Make Her Smile
by love-jonasxx
Summary: Through the darkness surrounding the rising of the Dark Lord, Lily Evans finds that life isnt always perfect. The strength in her friends will help Lily survive the hard times. But what if all Lily really needs is love? NEW CHAPTER! review loves.
1. Trouble On The Hogwarts Express

_i love harry potter. and i love writing. and if you dont love this. then i dont love you. nah im just kidding. i do hope you enjoy it though. _

_sadly, i dont own harry potter._

**Chapter One: Trouble On The Hogwarts Express**

Freedom, finally. The date was September 1st, the date that Lily became herself again. September 1st meant it was the beginning of a new and eventful school year. Lily was entering her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily's mood lightened as she entered Platform 9 ¾ after saying goodbye to her overly protective father. The step-mum opted to stay home from this see off, Lily wasn't complaining. She was ecstatic to finally be getting away from the step-mum from hell.

The Platform was alive with laughter and excitement. First years were waving excitedly to their parents from the Hogwarts Express windows, sticking their tiny heads out. Mothers scolded them for being so careless as to stick their heads out the windows. The older students searched for familiar faces in the hordes of people milling around the train.

"Look at that slut," a familiar voice said from behind Lily.

Lily twirled around to find one of her best friends smiling at her. "Look at that whore." The two girls giggled, and embraced each other like sisters.

"My, my Camryn Lawler," Lily tutted, "dear Merlin, what have you done to your hair?"

Camryn's hair had once been long and dark blond, probably the most beautiful head of hair in all of Hogwarts. Now her hair was cut to her shoulders in a funky choppy way. There were dark brown and light red streaks filtered throughout her hair. It was cute but very different and so not the Camryn Lawler she knew and loved.

"I got bored," she said shrugging.

"I like it, it's cute."

"Liar," she laughed.

"No, I mean it," Lily said earnestly. "Did you get bored with any other part of your body?" Lily joked.

Camryn laughed, her crystal blue eyes dancing with laughter.

Lily's green eyes widened. "Cam! What did you do!?"

"I'm going to wait until our other bitches get here."

The pair dragged their luggage along the Platform. They searched the many faces of the students in hopes of finding their two other friends. A few people came up to Camryn and Lily, commenting on how lovely they both looked. After a fourth year Hufflepuff told Camryn that she liked her hair, she turned to Lily and asked, "Do I even know her?"

"Probably not," Lily laughed.

From behind them a voice drawled. "Evans."

They turned to find the Marauders smirking at the two of them. "Merlin, is that you Lawler?"

"What's it to you Black?"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch."

"Sirius, leave her alone," came their other friend's voice. Kaelin Williams materialized behind the Marauders. Dinah McKey, their other friend, was right behind her. Kaelin and Dinah were Pureblood and, tragically, had to grow up living next to two of the gits in the group; they were actually friends with the oafs. Lily being Muggleborn and Camryn being Halfblood didn't take to the Marauders quite as well as they did, seeing as they hadn't grown up with them. Dinah lived next door to James Potter, the biggest prat of them all.

"Lily! C-Rae!" squealed Kaelin hugging them.

"Hey girls!" shouted Dinah joining their hug.

"Well, this is a touching moment," said James Potter, laughing gruffly.

"Did we ask for your comment Potter?" asked Lily. They shared a look of pure hatred. It was no secret that Lily Evans and James Potter openly hated each other. That was basically an understatement. Anywhere you turn, the two were down each others throats, yelling.

"Sirius leave," Dinah commanded.

"Alright," sighed Sirius. "Bye Di, Kae, Lawler, Evans."

James and Sirius made their way onto the train.

"How the hell do you do that?" wondered Camryn.

"Magic," smiled Dinah.

As soon as the boys were gone, questions began flying. 'How are you?' 'Did you have a good break?' 'Where'd your hair go?' 'How's the family?' 'C-Rae did you get in a fight with someone?' 'Where the hell did it all go?' This had become a tradition at their reunions. All the girls would yell questions at each other not expecting to get an answer straightaway.

"Alright Lils, where is the badge?" Dinah asked. Dinah had her light brown hair pulled into a high pony tail with a white head band. Her hazel eyes shone brightly.

Lily grabbed her robe which held the usual P for Prefect.

"Is it just me, or does it get shinier every year?" wondered Kaelin.

"Oh, wow," sighed Dinah, shaking her head at the chestnut haired girl. "Let's go get our compartment."

The four stepped onto the scarlet steam engine, and made their way down the cramped corridors. Small kids ran down the halls shrieking with laughter. They all looked excited and somewhat nervous.

"Here," Camryn said flouncing into the compartment.

"Home sweet home," sighed Lily taking her usual spot on the floor, resting against the wall. Dinah sat down across from Camryn.

"Well girls, how was everyone's summer?" asked Dinah.

Kaelin started, "Well, mine was okay. My mum decided to go somewhere warm, so we headed to Australia."

"Do you ever go anywhere else for break?" laughed Lily.

"No, mum wanted to get away from her latest catch. That's the only place she knows will comfort her."

"At least you went somewhere," complained Dinah. "I had to baby sit the twins from hell all break."

"My dad was gone in Ireland," said Lily, "so I was left at home with the step-mum, Petunia, and the baby."

"How is my dear Petunia?" asked Camryn sarcastically.

"Oh just horsely. She's marrying a pig."

"Yes! I've always wanted to go to a farm wedding! When's the wedding?" asked Dinah enthusiastically.

"Winter or spring. I'm not going though."

"Well I have to tell you all about my summer," Camryn said excitedly.

"Do please tell us why you chopped off all your beautiful hair," said Kaelin dramatically.

Camryn smirked. "As you can tell I cut my hair."

"No really?"

"Well, I did something else too."

"Oh, bloody Merlin," Dinah sighed. "Just spit it out."

Camryn fingered the hem of her shirt. Then she touched her neck and pulled out the necklace, their necklace. Automatically, each girl brought out their own respective necklace. Each girl had a different stone hanging in the middle of the silver chain.

Dinah's stone held many different colors. She is the most mysterious girl out of the group. You never know what she will do next. She always held an air of mystery around her. Plus, she is the one that could make anyone laugh.

Camryn's necklace contained a bright orange stone. She was definitely the rebel/wild child of the group. Camryn doesn't let anything get in her way of what she needs to accomplish.

Kaelin's stone was a happy red. She's just such a happy-go-lucky kind of girl. Kae's always on the move, but will never be one to complain about something.

Lily's stone was the deep emerald green that was the same as her eyes. Lily's eyes were famous around Hogwarts. Everyone envied the gorgeous shade of green. So likewise, that was her stone color.

Now these stones were sort of a sacred bond between the four girls. You could almost call it a blood bond, but not that intense. They had invented the stones when they were going into fourth year. But from the moment they had met, on the train ride to Hogwarts in their first year, they knew they would be friends forever.

_A small girl with bright red hair sat quietly in a compartment. She was humming lightly to herself when the compartment door opened with a click. A tall girl with dark blond hair stepped into the small area. She turned around and smiled._

"_Do you think I could sit with you?" she asked boldly._

_The redhead nodded gently. _

_She sat down across from the smaller girl. "I'm Camryn."_

"_Lily Evans."_

"_Nice to meet you."_

_A couple seconds later the door opened again. Two girls fell in and exploded with laughter. One with chestnut hair shot up and laughed even harder._

_The other one had light brown hair. "Sorry, we didn't mean to barge in on you. We were just trying to get away from someone."_

"_It's okay," laughed Camryn. "I'm Camryn."_

"_Dinah," the light haired one said._

"_Kaelin," the other one said._

"_I'm Lily."_

"_Are you all first years?" wondered Dinah, taking a seat next to Camryn. _

"_Yes," Camryn and Lily answered._

"_Cool."_

"_Who were you running from?" asked Lily curiously._

_At that moment, loud thuds were heard on the compartment door. "We know you're in there Williams!"_

_Another voice shouted. "Come on out McKey, we've got a present for you!"_

"_Who is that?" asked Camryn, getting off the bench._

_Kaelin grabbed her. "No, don't! They are just childhood friends of ours. They like to terrorize people."_

"_I think I can handle them," said Camryn with confidence._

_Camryn's hand grasped the handle of the compartment door. It was barely opened when four boys fell in. They immediately stood up, brushing themselves off._

"_Potter, what do you want?" asked Dinah addressing the black haired boy with glasses._

_The boy named Potter eyes immediately landed on Lily. He straightened his shoulders and moved over to where the small redhead sat. Kaelin rolled her eyes._

"_I see we have a new person," he said smiling._

"_James, leave our new friend alone."_

"_Aw, you two have already made friends," said the boy with shaggy dark brown hair. _

_Dinah glared at him pointedly. "Shut it Black. I see that you have too." She nodded to the two boys that followed in after Potter and Black._

"_Oh, silly me, I'm so ignorant," said James sugary. "This is Remus Lupin." He said pointing to the very thin, sandy haired boy. "And that is Peter Pettigrew." He cocked his finger over his shoulder to the small, stout boy who stepped out from behind James' shadow._

_The girls waved. "Black, does your mother let you walk out of the house looking like that?"_

_Black glared at Kaelin. She had obviously touched a soft spot. The chestnut haired girl smiled triumphantly._

_Lily sat there in awe at how easy it was for Dinah and Kaelin to converse with the boys, not only converse, but argue. Lily had always been an outcast at her London school. No one talked to her, except for her childhood friend Veronica. Other than that, she was a loner at school. Lily found it hard to approach boys at all. They always seemed to be making fun of her for how short she was, or why her hair was such an ugly color. So she pretty much distanced herself from the male population. But with James being so close to her, she couldn't think right._

_When he turned to her and asked what her name was she practically fainted on the spot. Not only did James seem popular already, but he was completely gorgeous. His messy black hair stuck out in every direction. His eyes were the most captivating things Lily had ever seen. They were an intense hazel blue. Little did Lily know that this would be the last time that she ever thought of James Potter this way. _

"_I'm Lily Evans," she said shakily._

"_Nice to meet you," he said smiling his trademark smile that would once captivate most girls at Hogwarts. "I'm James Potter."_

_Lily could only smile. She couldn't trust her mouth to actually say words. _

"_Get out!" shouted Dinah._

_The boys said a quick good bye before Dinah pushed them out of the compartment. "Sorry about them," Kaelin said._

"_Who were they?" asked Lily interestedly._

_Dinah sighed. "None only than the most annoying boys on the face of this earth. The boy that was talking to you, James Potter, is the biggest prankster I think I've ever met. We've known him and Sirius Black since we were babies. The other two I haven't met, but since they now both know James and Sirius, there will be hell. Chaos tends to follow those two around."_

"_They seemed nice," replied Lily._

"_They come out being very nice, but once they know you, you better watch out."_

"_Oh," sighed Lily softly._

_For the next couple of hours to Hogwarts, the four girls became quick friends talking about their lives. They found out that Kaelin and Dinah were Purebloods, which meant they come from wizard parents. The four girls formed what would be known as one of the closet groups of friends ever to set foot in Hogwarts._

"Emer?" asked Dinah shaking her hand in front of the redheads face.

"Sorry," Lily said snapping out of her day dream. "What were you saying?"

"I was just about to say what I did."

"Get out with it C-Rae!" demanded Kaelin.

"Now don't scream and shout and kill me. Just hear me out."

They agreed and readied themselves for the worst.

"Okay," Camryn said and pulled her shirt up to expose her tanned stomach. An orange belly button ring now adorned her toned navel.

"What in bloody hell is that?" shouted Lily.

"Calm down," Camryn whispered.

"Cam, what did you do?" asked Dinah.

"I got bored. I told you that. Hear me out thought."

"We're listening."

"I think we should all get them."

All hell broke loose.

"Listen to me, listen to me," insisted Camryn, "I got mine at the very beginning of the summer. It is looking beautiful. I haven't had one problem with it. I thought we could get them to match our stones."

Three girls stared at her blankly. Then Kaelin said, "Let's do it!"

"This conversation will continue when I get back from my Prefect duties," Lily announced leaving the compartment.

Lily walked down the corridors of the scarlet steam engine and peeked into other peoples lives. She walked all the way to the first car which was where the Prefect meeting was always held.

Lily walked into the car not surprised to see Remus Lupin already sitting in a chair, book in hand. A few other people were scattered around the room.

"Hey Remus."

"Hi Lily," he said looking up from his book. "How was your summer?"

"Eh. So-so, yours?"

"Pretty good."

A couple minutes later and the meeting came to order. The Head Boy and Girl said the same thing that they say every year; make sure you look for people out of beds at night and all the other usual stuff. Thirty minutes later, Lily was seated back in the compartment with the girls.

* * *

"So, what are we doing?" Lily asked as she sat on the floor once again. 

"Kaelin and Dinah are getting one," said Camryn. "So it's all up to you."

"Do I have to decide now?" she asked.

"I was thinking," began Dinah, "that we could get them on your birthday. You have a solid four months to think."

"Good idea Di," said Kaelin. "Oh, guess who stopped by while you were gone?"

"Who?" Lily wondered. "Was it Potter?"

"No," said Camryn making a face.

"Evan did," squealed Kaelin. Camryn mimicked her high-pitched squeal. Evan Carter was Kaelin's latest object of affection. She has fancied him since the end of fifth year. They all suspected that Evan fancied her too. Actually, they didn't know, they just told Kaelin he did so she would stop asking them if he did or not.

Lily nodded. "And how did that go?"

"Oh wonderful," Dinah said sarcastically. "Evan and Kaelin have not yet figured out that to be in a successful relationship, there must be talking."

Kaelin glared at her friend. "We talked."

Camryn laughed. "Yeah, if you count ogling at each other talking."

"Timmy asked about you," added Dinah.

Lily's cheeks flushed. Timmy Greenbow is a quiet Ravenclaw sixth year. Lily and Timmy were partners last year in Potions class thus becoming friends through potion stirring and excessive moments of Lily breaking vials. Lily found him extremely interesting to talk to, once he breaks out of his shell.

A loud knocking interrupted the chatter of the compartment. All heads turned to the door.

"Who is it?" called Dinah.

Kaelin rose and slid the door back. A girl stood there with a scared look on her face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know there were people in here," she stammered. "I'll just go find another room."

"No, no," said Dinah, "join us. Merlin knows we have enough room."

The pretty brunette entered hesitantly. She smiled shyly around before taking a seat next to Dinah.

"I promise we don't bite," Camryn joked. "Well, Lily might."

Lily glared at her friend. "That was one time."

The four friends cracked up at the memory. The stranger looked on in amazement. She had always wanted best friends to share memories with, but at her old school no one talked to her. She was an outcast.

"Not to sound rude or anything," the redhead stated, "but who are you?"

"I'm sorry. I'm Jensen Gregg. My family just moved here from the States. My dad's work transferred him to London."

"Interesting," said Dinah. "What school did you go to before?"

"Academy of Witches in New York."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen. I'm going into sixth year."

"We are, too."

"Well, my name is Dinah McKey. That is Kaelin Williams, Camryn Lawler, and Lily Evans."

"Don't forget Sirius Black."

"And James Potter." The Marauders stood in the open doorway.

"Who forgot to shut the door?" Camryn demanded looking at Kaelin.

"I see we have a new person," James said sitting next to Jensen. Lily shuddered. Only five years ago it was Lily, James had said that to. He proceeded to put his arm around her, which caused Jensen to blush.

"Get off her you man whore," Camryn growled.

"Please escort your sorry asses out of our compartment," Lily said dangerously.

Suddenly the train shrieked to a stop and the lights flickered off. All eyes focused on the ceiling. An eerie silence surrounded the train as compartment doors opened, worried faces peering out from behind them. Whispers sprouted from the corridor.

"What the hell?" wondered Kaelin rising from her seat.

Lily looked outside the window. The sky was pitch black. Lily could barely make out the tree that was just outside the train. She swears she saw something hovering though. Then she saw them. "Death Eaters," she muttered.

"What?" Dinah asked.

"The Death Eaters are here," Lily said slightly more alert. "We need to get the young children off the train."

It took everyone a moment to let the information settle in. Kaelin being the sensible one, immediately went into action. "We need to split up and try to get to safety. But we do need to get the first and second years. They don't know enough magic to help them if they get trapped."

"How could they have stopped the train?" asked Remus curiously.

"They have their ways," James muttered hotly. His eyes seemed to have adopted a hateful look.

"What do we do?" asked Sirius. Peter squeaked next to him.

Kaelin glared at him. "We are going to try and get the little ones off the train without harm. Now Jensen can come with me, Dinah, Peter, and Remus, Camryn and Sirius, and Lily and James. No arguing."

"Where are we going to take these kids?" wondered Lily. "There could be thousands of Death Eaters out there."

"There won't be that many, only a couple dozen," James said.

Lily opened her mouth to retort a comment, but Kaelin stopped her. "No arguing! Just try to get them heading to Hogwarts. We aren't that far away from there. Don't get hurt."

With that Kaelin and Jensen turned to the right and ran down the corridor, banging on doors as they went. The others soon followed after them. Lily and James hung back in the compartment, not sure what to do.

"This is insane," mumbled Lily as she hesitantly followed James to the left. She glanced into the compartments. Chaos circuited through the corridors. People didn't know what to do, so they ran in every direction.

James remained calm as he told a couple people that Death Eaters were attacking the train. Once the word was out that Death Eaters were attacking, the chaos turned into even more chaos, if that could happen. A loud bang was heard from behind the door of the next train. James and Lily burst through the door just in time to see a very fat Death Eater grab a child by the neck.

"_Stupefy!_" Lily shouted instantly. The Death Eater fell to the ground with a loud thud. The young boy scampered away.

"Good job," James said softly as he swept passed her and into the next compartment.

"It's an easy spell," Lily said rolling her eyes. She heard more footsteps coming from both ends of the train. There were still a couple of people in the compartments. "Everyone out!" She yelled into the compartment.

"Don't scare them," James said looking at their frightened faces. "Come on, open the window and climb out. Older kids should be waiting for you outside. If you see anyone in a black cloak and mask, run for your life!"

Lily watched James with a blank expression. She had never seen him act this way before; compassionate, reasonable, friendly, nice, and helpful. James grabbed her by the arm, and dragged her to the next compartment.

"Come on, you're spacing out," he said instructing the older kids to help the younger kids.

More screams and yells were coming from the very back of the train. The pair looked at each other and instantly flew to the back of the car.

A tall cloaked figure was standing over a girl with beautiful raven hair. She didn't look a year over ten. "James!" she shrieked, which made the Death Eater glance behind him.

A young boy was next to her. They both looked terribly frightened. "Ah, just the man we're looking for," the man said maliciously.

"Who are you?" demanded James. He motioned with his eyes for Lily to get the boy and girl. Lily edged around the man, but the Death Eater noticed. He grasped Lily around the neck viciously.

"If I tell you, I'd have to kill her." If he wouldn't have had a mask on, James knew he would be smiling a sick smile.

"It's you," he breathed. "You will never kill anyone again in your life. Don't touch her." Anger blazed in his hazel eyes. Lily gasped for breath as his grip tightened. "Let go of her." James now had his wand turned on the Death Eater.

Lily was trembling. The girl was sobbing softly. James looked like he was ready to throttle the Death Eater.

"Only if you join me."

Lily looked bewildered. "What the hell do you want?" she choked out.

The Death Eater grinned. "Shut up Mudblood, no one asked for your comments."

"Do not call her that!" roared James.

Lily glanced to James. The Death Eater laughed evilly, "Is this your girlfriend Potter?" His eyes flickered to Lily. "She's quite below you, even you should know that. But Master did ask about her too. I have yet to understand why he would want a Mudblood to join us."

James eyes glared at the cloaked man before them. "What do you want?"

"For you to join us Potter," he said. "If you don't, I kill them." He motioned to the little boy and girl who were clutching each other tightly.

"It's as simple as that?" questioned James.

The Death Eater nodded. "So, what's your decision?"

Lily was still wriggling under the man's grasp. She tried speaking again. "Don't do it," she gasped. "It's not worth it. I'm not worth it."

James looked around at Lily and the little kids hesitantly. "Will you let her go then, and Julie and Ryan too?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll do it."

"Don't Potter!" Lily cried before she was flung against the wall. She coughed hard as Julie bent by her side. The little girl helped her up onto her feet.

"Go," demanded James.

"No," Lily said firmly.

James pulled her up to his face and whispered in her ear, "On three, Stun him."

Lily nodded.

"Three!" he shouted.

"_Stupefy!_" the pair yelled together. The red beams connected with their target and he instantly fell to the floor.

"Hurry," James said grabbing Ryan. "It won't last long."

They returned to the completely abandoned corridor. Lily ran ahead to try the doors that led off the train. "Their locked! Come on, we can climb out the windows."

"I'll go first," James said climbing through effortlessly.

Lily helped Julie and Ryan through the window. She heard the Death Eater banging around in the corridor.

"Hurry," James said. Before Lily could jump through the window, the Death Eater barged into the compartment. A violet colored spell broke the window as Lily ducked. Lily said a quick spell before jumping through the window. She fell to the ground with a loud cry.

"What's wrong?" asked James, dragging her away from the window. He touched her leg, and she yelled at him.

"That hurts you idiot!"

He gently moved her leg so he could see the damage. A large gash ran from the top of her knee to mid-calf. Blood oozed from the new cut. A piece of glass was lodged in her leg. James helped her stand.

"Can you run?"

"I'll try," Lily groaned.

"Ryan, Julie run as fast as you can," instructed James. "If you get tired, I can carry you."

The silence of the night was broken by the many cries of Hogwarts students. Lily looked back to see the Death Eater's chasing them.

"Oh shit," she muttered and began to run with the others. "Why the hell are they here?"

"They are probably trying to make a statement or something stupid like that. It'll make them all powerful that they killed off a bunch of kids that weren't expecting it."

"Why did they want you?" Lily asked softly. His hazel eyes darkened behind his thin glasses.

"I'm not sure," he said, but he obviously knew. "Come on, he's gaining."

Lily ran as fast as she could with a piece of glass in her leg. "Potter, my leg." Her pace slowed.

"No Evans, don't stop. We're close to Hogwarts."

The pain in her leg overwhelmed her. It felt as if someone snapped her leg in half. She tried to run again, but the pain only doubled.

"Their gone," James sighed.

Lily collapsed to the ground.

"Let me see it again," James said breathlessly. Lily pulled her right leg out to show him again. "I can try and take the piece of glass out for you. It might make the pain a little more bearable."

"Whatever," moaned Lily.

James inspected the glass before quickly pulling it out of her leg. Lily's eyes became hazy. The last thing she saw were two hazel eyes piercing her. Blackness replaced them.

James muttered, "_Rennervate_." Lily's eyes fluttered open.

"James," Julie said frantically, "there are more!"

James' head whipped around to see two cloaked figures a couple hundred yards away. He turned back to Lily. "Evans, come on, get up. Be strong, I know you can be." Where was everyone else? There were no other students in sight. Then James turned to the two younger kids. "Come here, stand behind me. Whatever you do, don't get in the way." He felt a body next to his. Lily had regained consciousness and stood next to him.

"Didn't think I would let you have all the fun, did you?" Lily said weakly, slightly wobbling on her bad leg.

James smiled slightly. "Just stay behind me."

Lily pushed his arm out of the way. "I'm in this with you." She said it quietly, but James would never forget those words. He nodded and turned his head back to the approaching Death Eaters.

"We won't be able to out run them," sighed James. "Let's hope they don't want to duel."

Lily grunted. "Look, there are more." They looked into the distance and found at least ten more approaching. Lily brought her hand up to her neck. James looked at her curiously. She touched her emerald stone which instantly vibrated, glowed, and heated. Vibration was a sign of terror. Glowing was a normal sign. Heat was a sign of danger. She hoped with all her might that her friends would get the message. "Where the hell is everyone?" she voiced again.

"My thoughts exactly," stated James. By now, the Death Eaters were rapidly closing in on them.

"Why didn't we just run for it?" muttered Lily knowing fully well that she wouldn't have been able to. "Well Potter, it looks like we are going to have to take all these sorry asses down by ourselves."

"I sense sarcasm Miss Evans," he said out of the corner of his mouth. A playful grin appeared on his face.

Lily winced in pain as she shifted the weight of her foot. "Are they taking a bloody walk in the park? Why are they moving so slowly? Can we attack now?"

"No, let's wait and see what they want."

Lily frowned. All too quickly they were right in front of them. "James Potter, just the man we were looking for," a roguishly tall Death Eater said.

Lily and James' eyes connected before James spoke, "What do you want?"

They ignored him and turned to Lily. "Who are you?"

"What's it to you?" Lily snapped.

James rolled his eyes.

A wand pointed at her chest. "Your life is dependent on it."

James tried to move in front of her, but she was being too damn stubborn and wouldn't budge. "I'm Lily," she said strongly.

"Lily Evans?" asked a woman's voice.

"Our Master has told us about you," another added.

That set the Death Eaters off into their own conversations. Julie's eye caught something in the distance. The small girl nudged Lily.

"Look," she whispered.

Lily glanced passed the Death Eaters gathering and saw a slight orange glow. She sighed within herself. Camryn was coming. The Death Eaters decided to turn their attention back to them at that exact moment.

"Master wishes for you two to join us."

Lily did her famous eye roll. "Why the hell should we join you?"

"It will bring you great power."

Lily practically snorted. James made a motion for her to keep quiet.

"_Stupefy!_" shouted a voice in the distance.

And for the second time that night, all hell broke loose. Lily pointed her wand at the kids and said, "_Protego Horribilis_." They were instantly surrounded by an invisible shield. "Don't get lost."

James and Lily focused on the Death Eaters. They began to duel. James was taking them down extremely easily. Lily would have too if it wasn't for her slight impairment. A couple of Lily's friends were fighting off in the distance. Somehow Lily became pinned to a tree with a wand stuck in her face, wandless herself.

"Back off bitch!" Lily yelled at the masked figure.

"Nobody calls me a bitch," it was a woman. She said a spell that Lily didn't recognize. Lily instantly felt her legs buckle and burn with intense pain.

'Don't scream, don't scream!' Lily thought to herself. 'Don't let her have the satisfaction.' Lily pushed through the pain, and thought of a spell that she would say if she had her wand. Somehow the woman went flying backwards, Lily's wand falling out of her hand as she went. The pain instantly subsided, but she gawked, openmouthed, at what just happened.

"Did I just do magic without using my wand?" she thought aloud.

"Evans," James said running up to her. Blood was dripping down his face from a cut above his eye. "Hurry, we need to try and run for it."

"Now you say we run," said Lily exasperatedly. "I don't think I can." She stepped down on her right leg and fell to the ground in pain.

"I'll carry you," he said and without any hesitation, he picked her up. Lily had no chance to argue with him.

"Sorry if I'm too heavy," Lily whispered before she blacked out again.

James grunted and sped away from the Death Eaters. Julie and Ryan were safely in the castle. What a way to start off your first night at Hogwarts. James was quickly joined by Sirius and Camryn.

"Is she okay?" wondered Camryn, she was clutching her arm.

"I don't think so. She got cut with a piece of glass getting out of the train."

"Do you think they got anyone?" Sirius asked after a moments of silence.

"Merlin, I hope not," sighed James as he glanced back to the unconscious form of Lily.

They looked up to see Hogwarts glittering in the distance. Camryn sighed in relief.

"Home," she sighed.


	2. Deal, Potter

_i would love reviews. they make me happy. and a happy writer, is the best kind. hahaha woooo read!_

_sadly, i dont own harry potter._

**Chapter Two: Deal, Potter.**

Lily's current state; unconscious, lying on a pleasantly warm and comfortable Hospital Wing bed. She moved in her sleep. She had yet to awaken from the attack. Assortments of people were placed in beds around her. James sat in a chair by her bed with a bandage above his eye. He hadn't received any major injury. Kaelin watched Lily sleep with worried lines etched into her forehead. Camryn was sitting quietly in a chair, looking out into the inky blackness that was night. Dinah's body lay in the bed next to Lily's. She had a broken arm with a deep cut. Madam Pompfrey quickly mended her break, but had to stitch the cut back together. Sirius, Peter, and Remus sat at a distance. Jensen lingered next to Kaelin, uncertain of what to do.

Madam Pompfrey bustled about the Wing muttering incoherent things about the attack. She came over to check on Lily. "Out of the way Potter. Lily needs to be tended to."

James reluctantly obeyed as Pompfrey closed off Lily's bed. There was still a piece of glass stuck in her cut.

"She's going to be okay, right?" asked Kaelin nervously.

James kept his eyes on the curtains. "It's just a little cut." He was trying to sound positive.

Dinah looked at Camryn. "C, you okay?"

Camryn nodded silently. Dinah nodded her head at Kaelin who rose from her chair. Kaelin moved to Cam, whose eyes were glistening with fresh tears.

"Cam, what's wrong?" asked Kaelin soothingly.

Camryn bit her lip. She hated crying in front of people. She wasn't even sure why she was crying. "I'm fine, just overwhelmed."

"Okay, if you need to talk…"

"I know," said Camryn with a slight smile. Kaelin gave her a hug, and sat back down by Lily's bed.

Jensen watched the girls' exchange in amazement. These girls really, truly cared about each other. They weren't pretending like all the girls at her old school. Jensen never had friends at her school in the States. She was a freak, even at a school for witches. She wished for a bond like that between someone other than her mom. Jensen and her mom got along extremely well. They talked about everything and anything. But Jensen was ready for friends her own age.

Madam Pompfrey pushed back the curtains. "She's awake. But be gentle, she's still quite weak."

Kaelin jumped up onto Lily's bed. Lily began coughing from the sudden movement. "Sorry, sorry!" Kaelin apologized.

"It's okay," muttered Lily.

"How you feeling?" James asked looking at Lily intently.

"Tired," Lily said softly.

"Is her leg going to be okay?" James said turning to Madam Pompfrey.

"Good as new; just needed to get that piece of glass out of her. You should stay away from putting too much pressure on it for a couple days," Pompfrey advised. "I want to keep you in here overnight just incase."

Lily groaned. "Can't I go down to the feast?" she pleaded.

Madam Pompfrey tutted, "Ms. Evans, you've been through a great ordeal tonight. You need your rest."

"But Poppy," tried Black, "it's the first night back, and everyone knows the feast is the best."

Her expression changed but only slightly. Who knew that Pompfrey had a soft spot for the Marauders?

"Don't call me Poppy," she snapped. The exasperated witch let out a giant sigh. "Okay, but Ms. Evans you must go straight back to your dormitory and stay off your leg until the morning. I don't want any running around the castle." She eyed the Marauders pointedly. All four faces stared back at her innocently.

"Thank you," mumbled Lily, attempting to push herself up.

Madam Pompfrey only let Lily leave once a large chunk of chocolate was shoved into her mouth. Lily choked it down, smiling.

"Only you would go and get yourself hurt the first night," laughed Dinah holding onto her sore arm.

"I wouldn't be talking," Lily said laughing quietly.

"Oh, it was just a break."

"Well, how about we go down to the feast now," suggested Sirius.

"Always thinking of yourself Sirius," said Kaelin.

"It is time to eat," he said rubbing his stomach.

"I could do with some food," sighed Lily.

Lily slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed. She stepped down, and winced a bit. "It's good."

Lily swayed as she began to walk. James slipped an arm around her waist to steady her. Lily murmured thanks. He walked beside her to make sure she could walk alright.

Dinah watched in amusement as Lily tried to push away his arm. "Come on mates, we have a feast to attend."

They arrived in the Great Hall after all the first years have been sorted. Julie and Ryan were seated at the Gryffindor table, along with a couple other new first years.

Professor Dumbledore waited until the group was all seated. "Jensen Gregg, could you make your way to the stool, please." Everyone looked around for this new girl.

Kaelin pushed the nervous brunette toward the Sorting Hat. She sat on the stool tentatively. A few seconds later the hat shouted, "Gryffindor!"

The Marauders stood up and whistled while everyone else clapped loudly and excitedly. Jensen sat down next to Kaelin smiling.

Dumbledore put his hands up, asking for silence. "Yet another year has begun here at Hogwarts. Tonight we have witnessed something that I have never seen happen at all my years at Hogwarts. Tonight, the Hogwarts Express was invaded by people that are known as Death Eaters. Why they attacked the train is not known yet. I assure you that whenever we find out why this happened we will inform you. Thankfully no one was fatally hurt in the matter; some did receive a few bumps and bruises." His mystical eyes glittered at Lily. "I'm greatly sorry that everyone had to experience such a wave of panic and terror. And I greatly thank all those who stepped up and tried to get the younger students to safety." His eyes again flickered to the Gryffindor Table. "Finally, due to the attack on the train, classes will start tomorrow at ten o'clock. Now, this year will be somewhat different from years past. Many surprises will be in store, while some will not be so grand. Dark times are ahead, keep your friends close. Make new friends. Now it is time to eat. Also to you new students, the Forbidden Forest is just that, forbidden. Mr. Filch would kindly like me to remind you that dueling and magic is not permitted in the hallways between classes." His eyes rested on the Marauders. "Tuck in, and eat!" As he finished his speech the food appeared as usual. There were the usual squeals of joy and awe.

"Do you think Dumbledore will really explain why we were attacked? Or do you think he is just saying that?" wondered Dinah reaching for a biscuit.

"I don't know it depends on what the reason was. It might frighten the younger kids," Remus said. "Lily, don't forget we have to lead the first years to the dormitory."

"Oh grand," she said sinking her teeth into a big spoonful of mash potatoes and gravy.

Julie appeared next to James' side. "Hey James," she said with a big smile.

"Congratulations on getting in Gryffindor!" shouted Sirius tickling the little girl.

"Come here Jules," James said. She sat in between him and Black. "Where's Ryan?" Ryan instantly appeared next to Julie.

"Merlin, she looks exactly like you Potter," stated Camryn.

Kaelin turned to the girl and hugged her. "Cause they are related, idiot."

Camryn glared at Kaelin. "How was I supposed to know that?"

"Lawler, Evans, this is my little sister Julie, and my cousin Ryan," Potter said introducing everyone.

"See, now I know her," said Camryn sarcastically.

Dinner ended, and Dumbledore spoke once again. He dismissed all the satisfied students to their warm awaiting beds. Lily told her friends she would meet up with them later. Julie and Ryan followed Remus and her, as they explained to the first years about Hogwarts.

"You always have to be alert," Remus explained. "The stairs move whenever they feel like it."

The kid's ooohed and aaahed as they looked all around at Hogwarts magical interior. "The pictures move!" shouted a young boy.

"Yeah, they are as realistic as you can get. You can actually have conversations with them."

"Whoa Remus, are you talking to pictures now?" Lily wondered smiling.

He made a face at her. They stopped at the portrait of the Fat Lady. She smiled down at the new arrivals. "What do we have here?" she asked loudly. "New students I see! Welcome to Hogwarts!"

Lily rolled her eyes at the jabbering portrait. "_Moonstone_."

The Fat Lady ignored her. "How do you all like Hogwarts so far? Isn't it just magical?"

"_Moonstone_," Lily said a little more forcefully.

"Don't get all worked up Miss Evans," she said before allowing them entrance.

All the faces grew wide as they took their first look around the cozy common room.

"Girls dorm to the left, boys' dorm to the right," Lily explained. "And boys, no going into the girls dormitory. It won't allow it."

Some of the boys sniggered before the group scattered. Lily took her time going up the stairs. Her leg still ached with some pain. She heard arguing from behind the door. She sighed before going through the barrier.

"Dinah get your shit off my bed!" shrieked Camryn.

"There's nothing on it!"

Camryn looked down to see nothing on her bed. "Oh."

Dinah lost it. She rolled on her bed while shaking with laughter. Tears were falling out of Dinah's eyes from laughing so hard.

Jensen was sitting pleasantly on her bed. Lily noticed the extra bed that hadn't been used since the fifth member of the Gryffindor sixth years left suddenly at the end of third year, was now being occupied by Jensen. The girls all suspected that the last occupant of that bed had been a bit odd. She really hadn't any friends while she was here.

Together, the five beds all fit wonderfully. A large steel heater sat in the middle, which for the time being, was turned off.

Kaelin sat at the end of her bed. Her legs dangled over the edge of the dark maroon comforter. Lily made her way to the other side of the room. Her bed sat in between Kaelin's and Dinah's.

"I'm so tired," groaned Lily settling into the warmth of her covers.

"How are you feeling?" asked Kaelin, jumping onto Lily's bed barely missing her bad leg. "Oh, sorry!"

"It's okay. It's not up to par yet, but I'll be fine in a couple days."

"So, Potter was being your Knight-in-Shining-Armor, eh?" sniggered Camryn, sitting on Dinah's bed.

"Oh, I bet that's what he thinks."

"You should have seen him handled you," explained Dinah standing up. Lily looked at her oddly. "No, not like that, wow you have a dirty mind. He really thought you were going to die or something dreadful."

"It was very sweet of him to carry you all the way up to Hogwarts," Kaelin added dramatically.

By now Lily's friends had surrounded her bed. Jensen admired them from a distance.

"Okay Jensen," Lily said startling the brunette. "You need to put this shy girl thing aside. If you are going to be friends with us, you actually need to talk. So get your ass over here and join the fun!"

Jensen's lime green eyes glowed with happiness. "I'm just nervous, I guess. I've never moved away from my home before."

"You'll feel right at home here."

"By the way, welcome to Hogwarts."

* * *

The next morning, people began awakening no later than eight. Kaelin, of course, was the first one to wake. She took her shower in peace, and was underneath her covers before any other sixth year Gryffindor girls were awake. Then the madness started once Camryn and Dinah awoke. Jensen bolted in before either of them could protest.

"Oh Jensen's got a sneaky side!" shouted Camryn at the closed shower.

It doesn't make any sense to only put one shower in a girls' dorm room. It just seems like one of the stupidest things to do. Lily groaned from her bed. "C-Rae, it's not normal for people to yell so loud in the morning."

"Oh Emer," sighed Camryn dramatically. "Did I disrupt your beauty sleep?"

Jensen exited the bathroom with a towel around her head. Dinah beat Camryn to the door.

"Oh you bitch!"

Lily climbed out of bed. Her leg was extremely stiff. She walked around the room for a couple minutes. She winced, it was still sore.

"How is it?" Jensen asked shaking out her wet dark brown hair. Lily did a drying spell for her. "Thanks."

"No problem. It's feeling a lot better, but it still hurts some."

"What did you do exactly?"

"Climbed out of the window, and slit my leg on the broken glass."

"Ouch," she said, pulling on her school robes. "Are you going to shower?"

"I took one early this morning."

"Oh, I see. You've got it covered!"

"Hells yeah I do. Come, I'll take you down to eat."

"Okay."

Lily walked passed Kaelin and slapped her butt. "Breakfast!"

Kaelin threw off her covers, and grabbed her robes. She completely ignored the fact that her hair looked like a nest. Lily pointed her wand at Kaelin's hair. Her hair instantly fell into soft curls.

"Thanks," she said quickly without stopping from running around the room looking for her things.

The three left Dinah and Camryn to come down later. The girls made their way into the busy Great Hall. They crossed the Hufflepuff table to where Gryffindor's table sat against the wall. They sat down in their normal seats at the end of the table.

"It felt good to sleep in a warm bed," sighed Kaelin stretching her arms above her head.

"Tell me about it. I'm all achy though, but it beats my bed at Hell House," said Lily.

"How was the step-mum?" asked Kaelin reaching for a bagel.

"As horrible as she has ever been," Lily grimaced. "I took refuge in my basement skating with Veronica."

"Did you skate a lot?"

"Everyday. It feels like a month since I've skated last, I miss it already."

"You probably won't be able to for awhile," state Kaelin.

"When it starts to snow I'll go on the lake, but for now I'm sticking to the Room of Requirement."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" voiced Jensen.

"Oh, I ice skate," Lily said, "have been since I was about four."

"She's amazing," said Kaelin.

"Oh yeah, I'm just awesome," Lily said sarcastically.

"Wow, I wish I was coordinated enough to do something like that. I only play Quidditch."

Kaelin's face lit up. "You play, wonderful! I'm the Seeker, what are you?"

"Beater."

"Our Beater left last year. You have a good chance of making the team then. Sirius is our other beater."

"I'll just be tuning you people out now," Lily said turning all her attention to her breakfast.

The two girls continued talking about Quidditch. Professor McGonagall walked by the group, and handed out the new course schedules. "Miss Evans and Miss Williams," she said handing the pair their separate schedule. "Miss Gregg, we received recommendations from your other school. If you have any problems you can talk to me. Oh, and welcome to Hogwarts."

"Thank you!" Jensen said brightly. "I'm so excited to begin classes."

"Will you hold onto Miss Lawler and Miss McKeys' tables?" asked McGonagall before she walked away.

"We have all classes together," Kaelin stated, "except I have Ancient Runes, Emer, you have Arithmancy. I bet Cam has Care of Magical Creatures, and Ruby probably didn't take any extra classes. What about you, Jen?" Kaelin said this all extremely fast. It was a habit of hers.

Lily glanced at Jensen's paper. "She has Arithmancy, so do I!"

"How many classes are you taking Lils?"

"Eh, six or seven."

"Freak. Well, look who decided to join us," laughed Kaelin.

Camryn and Dinah plopped onto the bench. "We got our new tables," groaned Camryn, "wonderful."

"So begins the new year of Hogwarts," Dinah said dramatically.

* * *

The following week, Dumbledore made an exciting announcement after everyone had finished eating their dinner.

Dumbledore clapped his hands together, the long sleeves of his periwinkle robes sliding over his hands momentarily. "Ah yes, I have a quick announcement to share with you all. It has been many years since this has actually taken place. But it is my pleasure to announce that this year Hogwarts will be hosting the Wizards Musical."

Excitement flooded the faces of those who understood what Dumbledore was talking about. Lily, Jensen, and Camryn looked at Dumbledore oddly. "What the hell is he talking about?" wondered Camryn a little too loudly.

"Well, Miss Lawler," Dumbledore said, smiling, "it is like a play but with music. Surely you've heard of them. Well every couple years the three largest European Wizarding schools come together to make a performance that will be shown at the end of the year to all of the wizarding community. It hasn't happened for the past twenty years, for reasons I am still unclear on. But this year we have talked endlessly about how we were going to accomplish this task. We finally decided that Hogwarts would hold our fellow schools here, since our location is more neutral. The students from our neighboring schools, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, will be arriving in the next month."

"Is Quidditch still on?" Potter asked loudly.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Yes, Quidditch will still be played, Mr. Potter." Potter sighed dramatically, allowing a couple of girls to swoon. "Although, instead of our inner-house Quidditch cup we will form two teams that will compete against those of the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons Quidditch teams. Madam Hooch, Professor Flitwick, and Professor McGonagall will hold a meeting for any of those that wish to compete in this Quidditch season. Sadly, if you wish to play Quidditch you must participate somehow in the Musical."

Groans emitted from Sirius and James. "That's not fair!" shouted Sirius. "We won't have the time."

"I know that when the students arrive, Hogwarts will treat them with the up most respect," he continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "We will have more information about the Musical and Quidditch Tournament later. For now, off to beds."

With a sweeping gesture, all the food disappeared from the plates. All remained was sparkling clean plates. The students took that as their cue to leave the Great Hall and head up to their common rooms. Chatter of the news followed Lily and her friends out of the Hall.

"A Wizard Musical?" outraged Sirius. "Are they mental? Who wants to do a musical for wizards?"

"I think it sounds like a good idea," said Camryn.

"Yeah, I think it would be fun to be in a musical!" added Dinah.

"But that's not fair that if we want to play Quidditch we have to be in the stupid musical," complained Potter. "It's hard enough to do just Quidditch."

"Oh, quit your complaining," said Lily.

"Well, I don't see you doing anything now Evans," Potter rounded on her.

Everyone in the near vicinity of the pair took one gigantic step back and shook their heads in dismay, knowing what was to come.

"And what is that supposed to mean, Potter?" spat Lily, clearly not finding her being singled out by James Potter anything remotely nice.

"I don't see you doing anything for this school. All you do is study. You don't play Quidditch; you aren't in any other group for this school. What do you do for this school?" he wondered smugly, thinking he had won this argument.

Dinah tried to force herself between the quarrelling pair. Lily shoved her friend out of the way, mentally making a note to apologize for it later.

"I work very hard to do well in my studies. Just because I don't sit on a broom and whiz around a field trying to catch balls doesn't make me anymore inadequate than you," Lily said folding her arms across her chest.

"Fine, if you think you're so grand, why don't you try out for the musical? Seeing as I have to be in it, if I want to play Quidditch, we can decide who is better after it's all over," Potter suggested.

Lily immediately said, "Fine. What happens when I win?"

James smiled. "I'll think of something."

"No, when I win," Lily said firmly, "you will leave me alone forever."

He showed no change of emotion. "Alright, and when I win, you have to go on a date with me."

"Thank Merlin that will never happen," sighed Lily starting off with her friends.

"Wait Evans," Potter said coming up behind her.

"What?" she shouted.

"We each have to try out for the lead part." Then he simply held his hand out to her. "Deal?"

Lily grabbed his hand firmly, shaking it with all the power she could muster. "Deal, Potter."

Kaelin twisted Lily around by the shoulders and walked off. Once around the corner, Lily laid her head on her friends shoulder. "What have I gotten myself into?"

**---what fun would it be if James and Lily didnt get into any fights?? review loves.**

**sammay.**


	3. Rows and Stressing

_now mah readers. i would love some reviews. i wouldnt want to stop this story just because no one is reading it._

_sadly, i dont own harry potter._

**Chapter Three: Rows and Stressing**

"What's it say?" questioned a small third year boy, peering at the bulletin that had just been posted.

James read aloud: "'To all that wish to play Quidditch this year in the Tournament, a mandatory practice will be held tomorrow night, starting promptly at a half past seven. The two teams will be announced the following day.' Sounds easy enough, right mate?"

Sirius nodded. "Two teams. This might become interesting."

"Oh, we are all going to make it," Dinah said nonchalantly. "Look at our competition. Hufflepuff hasn't had a decent team in years, if someone should make it from that House it shall be Diggory."

"This leaves us with the Ravenclaws and Slytherins to worry about. From Ravenclaw, those two twins have potential to be great," said Kaelin. "What year are they in?"

"Fourth," grumbled James.

"I don't know why you are worried at all," said Dinah. "You've been Quidditch captain since fourth year. You are one of the best chasers to ever set foot here in Hogwarts. You will be on the team."

Oddly enough, that didn't brighten his glum mood at all.

"What else are you brooding about, boy?" asked Kaelin.

"It's his deal with Lily," Remus said, emerging from the boy's dormitory.

James' hazel eyes narrowed at his thin friend.

"What, it's true!" exclaimed Remus. "You've been worrying about it ever since you made the stupid deal."

"Thanks Moony," James muttered as the two girls burst into giggles.

"What was the deal again?" Dinah asking teasingly, already knowing exactly what the deal was. Lily had been complaining about it since that night also.

"We are both trying out for the play, and whoever is better wins."

"Who decides which one of you is better?" asked Kaelin.

"Uh, we haven't gotten that far yet," mumbled James.

Sirius shook his head. "Speak of the devil."

Lily wandered out of the girl's dormitory with a look of pure exhaustion on her pale face. "Heard that Black," called Lily loudly slumping into a chair in front of the roaring fire.

Sirius looked shocked. At the sight of his face Dinah had burst out laughing. "What?" he asked angrily.

"You should see your face right now," she said laughing.

"Do you want me to show you how I could fix your face?" he asked pulling out his wand.

Dinah stopped laughing. Within the second that Sirius had brandished his wand and finished his sentence, Dinah had jumped out of her chair and raced towards the portrait hole. Sirius, being the oh-so nice person he is, gave her a second's head start before charging after her yelling obscene things. A couple second years jumped out of the way of his stampeding form.

Lily watched him in dismay. That boy is nothing but arrogant smiles and trouble.

"Hey," Jensen said softly, taking a seat next to Lily. "What was all that about?"

Lily closed her tired eyes and said, "No idea. Something stupid probably. The two of them do the dumbest things."

"So I've noticed," murmured Jensen. Her lime eyes stared intently at Lily's face. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, first week back to school is always killer for me."

"You take about a thousand classes, I can understand why. Plus, they are mostly N.E.W.T. level classes."

"Well, if I want to be successful in the wizarding world one day, I need good grades to get me there."

"Lily, from what I've seen so far," said Jensen, "you are the top student in this entire school."

Flattered at Jensen's comment, Lily blushed. "Not entirely. So, you doing this Quidditch thing?" She asked trying to take the spotlight off her.

Jensen fidgeted uncomfortably. "I want to, but I'm probably not near good enough to actually make one of the teams."

"Try out! You never know unless you try out," Lily said simply.

_Easy for her to say_, thought Jensen. She is Lily Evans, beauty and brains of Hogwarts. She could probably try out for Quidditch and be amazing.

"How come you don't play Quidditch?"

"I'm dreadfully scared of heights," muttered Lily.

Jensen laughed lightly, knowing that Lily Evans wasn't all that. "You are seriously considering doing the musical though?"

"Well, I guess I have to now," sighed Lily. "It doesn't sound too bad though. I actually like singing, I'm not terrible. At least I hope I'm not. And I think skating gives me some sort of grace for dancing. We'll see how it turns out."

"I bet you'll be great," Jensen said earnestly.

"Thanks Lime."

* * *

Lily sat at a table in the library, books pressed into every corner. Her quill moved along the parchment so quickly it was blurred. One hand held up a very tired head while she muttered to herself.

"You know," someone said from behind the bookshelves, "people say that talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity."

The figure emerged, showing the smiling face of James Potter. Lily inwardly groaned. "You know, people say that watching people can be qualified as stalking."

James took this as no offense, seeing as he took a seat next to her. Lily glared at her parchment, then turned her blazing emerald eyes on the boy. "What do you want Potter?"

"Can't a guy come and say hey once and awhile," he offered.

Noticing Lily's killer glare, it meant no. "Kill me for trying, but no, actually I'm here to discuss our little deal."

"I thought our deal was clear," she said. "Are you here to back out?" she asked a little too eagerly.

"You wish," James smiled, "I was wondering, since we hadn't already decided on this earlier, who was going to be the judge of who won our little deal?"

"Our friends obviously," Lily said instantly.

"Now I thought that too, at first," James said, talking as if he had given this immense thought. "But my friends would just vote for me and yours for you. So I thought we would ask Dumbledore to be the final judge."

"Professor Dumbledore?" Lily screeched outrageously.

"Ms. Evans!" snapped Madam Pince, the librarian.

"Sorry," she added in an undertone, "are you thick, Dumbledore wouldn't want to do something as childish as that? He has other things to be worrying about."

"See, now that's what I thought," said James. "But when I asked him, he seemed all the more delighted to do it."

"You already asked him!" Lily whispered a little too loudly, which earned her another reproachful glare from the librarian.

"I took it as my civil duty to ask him."

"Your civil duty," Lily said angrily, "any other little revisions of our plan so you can win?"

James looked thoughtful. "None at the moment."

"You're terrible," Lily said hotly, quickly gathering all her books, flyaway parchment, and quills.

"Where you going love?" he asked easily, leaning back in his chair.

"Why did you not ask me about this before?" asked Lily. "So I could at least have had some say in it."

"I thought Dumbledore seemed like a likely candidate."

"Just don't talk to me again, unless it's an utter emergency," Lily said shoving the rest of her homework into her bag.

"Bye love!" James called as Lily swung her bag around her shoulder and tore out of the library.

Not five seconds later Lily ran into Sirius Black. "Have you seen James?" he asked her.

"In the library," she retorted grumpily.

"What's got you in all a fit?" Black asked, stopping by her side.

"Go away!" she yelled.

"Ah, you must have talked to him already," he said smartly. "Thanks!"

Lily stomped all the way up to the sixth year's dormitory. Camryn was the only one in there at the moment, and she didn't have to look at Lily twice to know what the problem was.

"What did he do now?" she asked tentatively.

Lily furiously told Camryn all about her encounter with the insufferable James Potter. Camryn, being the patient friend, waited until Lily finished her ranting to add her own words of advice and soothing.

"Lil, you can't let him get you so worked up about something as silly as Dumbledore being judge for your little deal," Cam said.

Lily turned her eyes on her supposed best friend. "You don't understand, do you? Dumbledore has been pushing me and Potter to be friends for years. He has something in for me, I swear. So that already guarantees a win for Potter, since he probably told Dumbledore that if he won he gets to take me out on a date."

"Emer, there are worst things in the world than going on a date with James Potter."

Lily scoffed. "Like what?"

"Like, eating a whole tub of Stinksap," offered Camryn.

Camryn was rewarded with a small smile from the redhead. "Okay, but still, he could have asked me beforehand."

"Of course he could have," said Camryn happily, hugging her friend. "Now, let's go watch the Quidditch tryouts."

Before Lily could even open her mouth Camryn added, "We aren't going for him. Our two best friends play Quidditch, and now Jensen is trying out. They are going to need some moral support."

"Okay," Lily said after a couple minutes thinking, "but if he so much as looks at me…"

"I'll kill him," laughed Camryn. "Come on." Laughing, Camryn looped her arm around Lily's shoulders, pulling Lily's head into a headlock. Together they laughed their way down to the Quidditch pitch which was surprisingly full for it was only a tryout. They picked a seat a way from everyone else. They wanted to sit away from the noise so they could talk.

"Look, there's that cute kid from Hufflepuff," said Camryn, pointing to the blur of a person in bright yellow robes.

"Who? Amos Diggory?" snorted Lily.

"What?" Camryn asked offended. "He's not bad."

Lily looked to the sky attempting to call down the giggles that were about to overcome her. "Yeah, not bad."

"Talking about me Evans?" a voice asked from above.

The very sound of the voice made Lily's hair curl. "Potter, leave her alone," Camryn said indignantly, pulling Lily to her.

"Surprised to see you here," continued Potter as if Camryn hadn't said anything at all. "I didn't think you would be caught anywhere near a Quidditch pitch, since you have no athletic talent and what not."

"Potter, are you trying to get a rise out of her?" asked Camryn.

Lily thanked Merlin this very moment for giving her Camryn because if Lily would say anything at the moment there would definitely be no nice words coming out of her mouth. She had balled her fists together and twisted them around the inside of her robes trying to calm down. It didn't seem to be working.

"Are you her new interpreter now, Lawler?" Potter asked, smirking.

"Watch out, Bludger!" shouted Camryn.

Potter whipped around, spinning so fast he almost unseated himself from his broom, a Dart 200 his prize possession. Seeing no small weight hurdling at him, he flushed a very prominent color. The whole stands were laughing at Camryn's indecision. He readjusted himself on his broom and sped off to the other players.

Lily had tears coming out of her eyes. "Cam, I love you."

Camryn smiled jubilantly. "Anything for you, my love. And anything to shut up that little prat."

From that moment on, Lily's mood became exceptionally happier. Everything seemed so funny. Camryn and Lily clapped buoyantly for their friends as they passed the Quaffle, streaked after a Snitch, or clobbered the Bludger.

At one point, Lily turned to Camryn and asked if she was ever going to change her hair back to normal.

"I knew you didn't like it," Camryn sighed, running a hand through the dark brown mess.

"No, I like it," stammered Lily. "It's just not… you. I miss my blond Cam."

Cam smiled slightly. "Yeah I do too."

The tryouts went well into the darkness that most of the people in the stands had decided that their hunger was far more interesting than Quidditch tryouts. Lily and Camryn stayed, they were such good friends. Once the final whistle blew, the two girls sprinted to the field, hair flying behind them.

Lily reached them first. "You guys did so good!" She threw her arms around Kaelin and instantly regretted her decision. "Ew, you smell and you're all sweaty!"

"Ah, but I feel good. A little dirty, but I can live with that," said Kaelin.

Still disgusted, Lily moved a fair amount away from the sweaty girls. "You guys did amazing. When will you find out who made the teams?"

"They are posting tomorrow morning," said Dinah looking the least worried.

"Can we go to dinner," suggested Kaelin, "I'm starving."

"Uh oh, she's starting to sound like Black," groaned Camryn.

The girls laughed their way to the Great Hall. Lily told them about her meeting Potter in the library. Dinah laughed heartily. She had said it sounded like something James would do. After she had told the story she noticed how much she had overreacted. And for the briefest second thought of going to apologize, but that lasted no more than a second.

Dinah made it clear that they weren't going to sit anywhere near the Marauders for Lily's sake. They made a big show of sweeping right passed the four boys. Dinah clambered to the complete other end of the Great Hall, and plopped down next to a much shaken first year.

"Oh, grow up," she had told the kid. The first year yelped and dashed out of the Hall. "Am I really that scary?"

Lily laughed. She loved her friends. They could always cheer her up. She was beginning to forget about the row she had with Potter. Until that is, Potter and his group of followers sat down right next to them.

Lily had thankfully taken a seat across from Dinah and Jensen had occupied her other side, no Marauder would be able to squeeze next to her now.

"Do we have rabies now or something?" Black asked, placing himself next to Kaelin.

Dinah pointed her finger at him and attempted to tell him off although bits of food were falling out of her mouth. "You are not allowed to sit by us," she finally said, out of breath.

"Why not?" demanded Black. "We always sit with you."

"Well, not anymore," said Kaelin defiantly.

But this sudden outburst didn't seem to faze them at all. The Marauders took their normal places next to them and began to dig in. Lily pushed her plate away. "I've suddenly lost my appetite." Potter was giving her one of those would be sultry smiles.

Lily, Kaelin, and Jensen both agreed and stood up to leave. Dinah had no desire to leave her food. Camryn was glaring loathingly at all four of the boys.

"D, you coming?" asked Jensen.

Dinah looked forlornly down at her partially finished plate. "Oh, fine. You're going to pay for this one Sirius." She grabbed a biscuit and departed with her friends.

* * *

Back in Gryffindor Tower, the five girls crowded around the crackling fire place. Books were opened at Lily's feet as she was trying to finish off the homework she was unable to do in the library. Jensen excused herself quietly to the dormitory.

"'What is the Confundus Charm and how can it be dangerous?'" Lily read from her text of _A Charmed Life_ by Lor Ignora. "That's simple enough."

"Do you have to do your homework?" wondered Kaelin. "It's making me depressed. I still have a foot of Herbology to do. And none of you are in it, so I can't ask you to help me."

"Maybe you should do your homework, so you wouldn't have to do it all over the weekend," Lily said, her quill moving quicker and quicker along her parchment. "Done!"

"I resent you," muttered Kaelin, who unenthusiastically grabbed her own schoolbag and began to start her Herbology homework.

"Now onto Transfiguration," Lily said offhandedly, grabbing her text book.

"I'm so glad I dropped that class," Camryn sighed happily. "I always knew McGonagall had it in for me. Plus I was bloody horrible at it."

"You just didn't try," Lily said, looking up something on the Conjuring spells they were learning.

"Why are they giving us so much homework?" complained Dinah whose eyes were pouring over a large, dusty book about Elf Rebellions in the 14th century. "History of Magic is the most pointless subject ever. I don't know why I still take it. And it's the first week back! Do they not have any heart?"

"They are just getting us ready for our N.E.W.T.s," Lily said, still doing her Transfiguration essay.

"Which happen to be next year!" exclaimed Camryn. "It's pointless. I'm not going to remember any of this stuff for next year."

Twenty minutes later Lily slammed her book closed and proclaimed being done. Kaelin glared at her, she had written a total of five words on her parchment; _The uses of Wolfsbane are… _Yawning, Lily stretched her aching muscles.

"I think I'm going to turn in early," said Lily, moving to the girls stairs. "And Kae, Wolfsbane is sometimes used for curing werewolves. Even though you really can't cure werewolves, it just makes them more human."

Lily retreated up the stairs to the sound of Kaelin's quill scratching across her parchment, smiling to herself. Waiting for her on her bed was her copper colored owl, Turner. A large bundle was tied to his left leg.

"Turner," Lily cooed, untying the clump of letters from its outstretched leg, "wait a minute, I have something for you."

The owl fluttered its wings in excitement. Lily returned from her desk with two owl treats. She tossed them to Turner who caught them quite easily in his beak. Turner hooted his thanks and flew off to the Owlery.

Three letters had fallen out of the bundle from Turner. A letter with black ink, her name inscribed in a messy scrawl, no doubt her fathers. She read that one first;

_Dearest Lily,_

_How are you? I hope your well. Everyone is doing quite fine here. I'm writing to tell you that Petunia has decided on the wedding. It is going to be on the first of November. She requests that you bring a date, but no one too freakish. Whatever that means. I really hope you can get away from school for the day. Send us back with your answer immediately. We love you!_

_Dad_

Lily made a weird noise in her throat. "So she's finally getting married."

"Who's getting married?" Jensen asked, emerging from the shower, wringing a towel around her wet locks.

"My sister," Lily said with disgust, "she's marrying the ugliest, piggish man I've ever had the misfortune to lay eyes on."

Jensen laughed. "Are you going?"

"I don't know, it's on the first of November," Lily said glancing at the letter again.

Jensen's lime green eyes unfocused, thinking hard. "Wait," she said thoughtfully, "isn't that the day that the other schools are supposed to arrive?"

Lily slapped a hand to her forehead. "Bloody Merlin, you're right."

"What are you going to do?"

"I have to stay here; I'm one of the prefects."

Jensen gave her a knowing look. "Lily, it's your sisters wedding. Your only sister at that. I think you should go to the wedding."

"But you don't know my sister. We've hated each other since I got my letter from Hogwarts. She refuses to be seen in public with me. It's a rather nonexistent relationship. I don't think she would notice I wasn't there."

"Whatever you say Emer," Jensen sighed, "but I think you are going to regret it."

Jensen walked out of the room as if to state her point.

"I wouldn't regret it," Lily told herself.

But deep down inside, Lily knew she was going to have to go to this wedding. She just didn't know how it was going to happen. She needed to be here for the arrival of the schools.

"I'll worry about it later," she murmured, "next letter!"

The next letter was much thicker. Lily unrolled the scroll to find it touched the floor. She smiled at the handwriting. It was from one of her friends in Germany. They had been pen pals for about three years now. Heather, the girl's name, and Lily had met three summers ago when Lily's family took a summer vacation to Germany. The Evans family had stayed at Heather's house, as a host family. Thus, they became quick friends.

The final letter was not even a letter, it had four words on it, in what seemed like clippings from several different fonts and magazines. It said:

LiLy, wAtcH yOUr baCk

Out of instinct, Lily turned around to see if anyone was behind her. A rush of terror pulsed through her body. Her hands began to sweat profusely.

"Watch my back?" she said. "What the bloody hell is this?"

She dropped her other letters on her desk and raced back down the stairs to the common room. Her friends hadn't moved since she left. Jensen had taken her spot in the squishy arm chair.

"Lily," said Dinah in alarm, "what's wrong?"

Lily thrust the piece of parchment into their hands. The four girl's eyes quickly scanned the words, each in turn becoming wider and wider.

"Who sent you this?" asked Kaelin.

"They were kind enough not to leave a name," Lily said and as she said this it hit her. "Potter."

"James did this?" said Dinah, examining the letter closely.

"He had to, who else would do it?" said Lily irritably. "Where is he at? I'm going to give him my piece of mind."

"Emer, chill for a minute," Camryn voiced, grabbing Lily's arm before she could go stomping off after Potter, "I don't think Potter would do something like this."

Lily glared at her friend. "Potter would of course do something like this. It is probably a sick joke to scare me out of our deal."

Dinah's face looked grave. "Lily, I know James, and even he wouldn't sink this low to scare or get a rise out of you."

Kaelin nodded her agreement. "This is definitely someone that is trying to scare you, but it's not James."

Fear crept into Lily's stomach. "Then… who?"

"I have no idea," murmured Dinah.

"You should tell Dumbledore," advised Camryn.

"I'm not going to worry Dumbledore with something as foolish as this. It's just probably someone trying to freak me out," Lily said, her voice slightly higher than usual. "Right?"

The girls shrugged. "Let's hope it is."

Dinah hoisted Lily off the ground which she had kneeled on to read the note. "Come on, let's get you to bed."

"Okay," Lily muttered, "I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight."

"I've still got some Sleep Draught left over from when I was sick a couple weeks ago, do you want it?" Kaelin asked.

Lily nodded her redhead, yawning wildly. "That sounds fantastic."


	4. Ravendor

_sooooo, i was totally kidding about stopping this story. it might take longer for updates now, seeing as im in school and im only at mah house for four hours everyday. soo youll just have to be patient. and thanks to everyone that did review. on with the story..._

_sadly, i dont own harry potter._

**Chapter Four: Ravendor**

Lily woke the next morning to enormous amounts of noise filtering up from the Gryffindor common room. She could barely even remember the events of last night. Then Lily remembered… the letter. A trickle of fear entered her mind. Pushing aside her worries, she opened her emerald eyes.

"Bloody hell," moaned Lily groggily. She sat up in her bed, rubbing her tired eyes. "What is all that noise?"

Dinah and Kaelin were already throwing their school robes on their backs and trying to get out of the dormitory as fast as they could. "They've posted the teams for the Tournament."

Lily sighed dramatically. "That explains everything."

Camryn felt the exact same as Lily did. "Should we go?"

Lily knew she would have to. It's not like she would be able to fall back asleep with all the racket down stairs. "Yeah."

"How did you sleep?" Cam asked as they descended the stairs into the common room.

"Excellent, not a dream at all," smiled Lily.

A large group of anxious looking Gryffindors had formed a tight circle by the bulletin board, next to the portrait hole. At the exact moment Lily entered the common room, James Potter followed closely by Sirius Black pushed their way to the front of the board.

A whoop illustrated from Black's mouth. "I knew we would get it, mate!"

The pair gave each other a high-five. "And we're on the same team too!"

"Excellent, oi Di!" shouted Black. "Come look, you, Kae, and Jensen are both on our team too!"

A very sleepy looking Jensen had just appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Upon hearing her name, her eyes looked up excitedly. "I made it?"

"You made it!" exclaimed Kaelin, who pushed herself away from the notice. "It's the five of us and two Ravenclaws. The other team is Hufflepuffs and Slytherins. We are going to dominate!"

The three girls jumped up and down elatedly. Lily and Camryn clapped happily for their friends. They wouldn't have to worry anymore about them making it. And they also wouldn't have to be hearing about how nervous they all were.

"How about some breakfast," suggested Camryn, "for our team?"

"Are you offering?" Black asked, sauntering up to Camryn.

"I'm sure you can find your own way to the Great Hall, Black," said Camryn slowly, "unless you're small brain doesn't remember how to get there."

Laughing, the five girls turned and started for the Great Hall. Cheerfulness had resumed in the castle once the aftermath of the attacks had worn off. People were now enjoying themselves, even though most students had an excessive amount of homework, they found ways to be on the sunny grounds, talking excitedly about the school year to come.

Lily had just voiced her concern of what she should do with Petunia's wedding. "I'll be your date!" exclaimed Dinah happily.

"Okay, but I don't know what I'm going to do," sighed Lily. "The other schools are arriving the same day, and I really want to be there for the arrivals."

"When is the wedding?" Jensen asked.

"At 10 in the morning," Lily said gloomily. She had no idea how this was going to work out.

A light bulb seemed to have appeared to Kaelin. "If the wedding is at 10, and the arrivals don't get here till later, you might be able to make it!"

Lily took in Kaelin's words. "You are right. I have plenty of time to get back! It's not like I want to stay for the reception anyway. Kaelin, you're the best."

Lily hugged her friend and rushed off to the staff table. "I know," said Kaelin happily.

Professor Dumbledore smiled greatly as Lily came to a halting stop in front of him. "Ah, Miss Evans, what can I do for you?"

She took a second to catch her breath. "Professor, I have a favor to ask."

His light blue eyes were twinkling merrily. "Ask away," he said leaning back in his chair.

"My sister," Lily began, "is getting married on the first of November. It's kind of required of me to go, so I was wondering, if in anyway possible that I could go to the wedding. And I'll make sure to be back by the arrivals of the other schools."

Dumbledore simply smiled at Lily, giving her the feeling of being uncomfortable. But she didn't squirm under his penetrating gaze. "Of course you may go!" he said after a long silence. "We were trying to decide if we wanted to cancel lessons that day anyway, since no one will be able to pay any attention. There is no need to worry about your classes then seeing as we won't be in need of any. Are you bringing a friend?"

"Oh yeah," Lily said, "may Dinah McKey come with me?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Is that all, Miss Evans?"

Lily stared at Dumbledore wondering if he could read her mind. That letter was still plainly occupying all her thoughts. For a second she was tempted to tell Dumbledore about it, but only for a second. "Yes, that's all. Thank you so much Professor."

A hearty laugh escaped Dumbledore's mouth. "No problem, Lily. Good day."

Lily waved slightly and walked casually back to the Gryffindor table. Her friends sat there, looks of wonder on their faces.

"He said yes," Lily said, grabbing a plate of waffles, "and Ruby you're coming with me."

Dinah pumped her fist in the air. "I love weddings!"

Lily had a feeling that this wedding, wasn't going to be like any other weddings Dinah has ever been to before. And for that, Lily was extremely nervous.

* * *

September sun faded into October wind. The heavy breeze swept various colored leaves about the grounds, occasionally managing to hit some students in their faces. Piles of leaves began to build up, and on breaks you could see students jumping into the crisp leaves. More and more cloaks were being seen wrapped tightly around the hurrying students from the greenhouses or the area for which was designated to Care of Magical Creatures. One day in particular, it had been so windy that some poor little first year had blown right into the lake. Luckily Professor Grubby-Plank rescued the first year before the Giant Squid could attack him with his tentacles.

With two weeks remaining in the month of October, the anticipation of the arrival of the other schools had become so high that teachers were beginning to hand out detentions to people that were found talking about it in class.

In Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall had addressed the class that they would be having House meetings that evening in the common rooms. James Potter immediately protested, they had been planning a Quidditch training session.

"Mr. Potter, you will have to schedule it for another time," Professor McGonagall said simply.

Potter huffed and didn't push the subject any farther. Lily couldn't agree more with McGonagall. Kaelin, Dinah, and Jensen had all been exhausted as of late. Apparently, Potter had dubbed himself the captain, and took it to great pride in making their team better than their counterpart.

Promptly at eight o'clock that evening, Professor McGonagall appeared in the portrait hole. Talking ceased almost immediately. Lily and her group of friends were in the best seats by the fire. They had to move around so they could face McGonagall. She looked out of place in her bright red robes, she usually wore black. Her hair was still up in a tight bun.

"Attention," she said just to announce that she was there, "as you all know, we are hosting a special event this year. And due to dying foreign wizarding relationships, they will be staying for over most of the course of this year. They will attend lessons with you and stay in your dormitories. Being Gryffindors, I expect nothing but the best attitudes towards our guests." Her sharp eyes glanced to the corner where the Marauders sat. "They will be arriving on the first of November, and it has been decided that we will not have lessons that day, due to the fact that no one will be able to concentrate on the lessons. They are expected to arrive at seven that evening. Following their arrival we will have a welcoming feast." Shouts of happiness filled the common room.

"Two feasts in a row!" exclaimed Sirius Black, the whole of the common room found this extremely funny.

Lily found it remotely irritating. Professor McGonagall continued, "Yes, Mr. Black, and I expect you, of all people, to be on your best behavior." Sirius mocked hurt. "As I was saying, there will be a feast, and then they are allowed to choose where they wish to stay. I know, my Gryffindors, will set an excellent example and graciously admit them into our House. Any questions?"

Surprisingly, a couple hands shot in the air. A pretty seventh year girl waved her hand at McGonagall, "Professor, when will the information about the musical be posted?"

"We are going to explain the musical in full detail once our guests arrive, Miss Prewett" said McGonagall. "Anything else?"

A frightened first year raised her hand timidly into the air. "Yes, Miss Quinn?" McGonagall asked, addressing the girl.

The girl jumped at being addressed by McGonagall. "How many schools are coming?"

"Two, Miss Quinn," said McGonagall hastily. "Anyone else?"

Black raised his hand from the corner. "Are teachers allowed to be in the musical?"

Professor McGonagall looked at him oddly. "I guess if they really wanted to be, they could. But it is mostly for the students."

Black smiled. "I think you should be in it."

"Enough Mr. Black," McGonagall said, but you could see a faint tinge of pink appear on her cheek bones, "now if that's all, I shall be going. If you have any other questions, come and ask me, you all know where my office is."

McGonagall exited the common room. Animated jitters erupted once the last bit of her robes whipped out of the common room.

"We will have plenty of time to get back," Dinah said, instructing one of her bishops to attack Camryn's pawn. Lily winced as the pawn crumbled under the bishop.

"No lessons that day," exclaimed Camryn, "bloody wicked!"

"They have never cancelled lessons for anything," stated Kaelin, reading a book.

A tap at the window turned their attention to the tan owl pecking at the glass. Lily put her book on the table and walked to the window. As soon as she got the window opened, the owl rushed in, clawing Lily's shoulder in the process.

"Bloody owl," she muttered. "Whose are you?"

Kaelin abandoned her book too, checking the letter. "It's for you."

"That's not Turner though," Lily said apprehensively. Kaelin thrust the letter at her. Lily looked at the small piece of paper, fear consumed her face. She had a feeling she knew what it was.

One side of the small piece of parchment was completely blank, Lily flipped it over. Six words, written in a blood red, stared back at her.

One; yoU hAve bEEn wARneD, MudbLooD

Lily's friends formed a tight circle, all of them glancing at the parchment. Lily's hand shook, Kaelin actually let out a small gasp, and Dinah ripped the note from Lily's trembling hands.

"What crazy nutter does things like this?" she asked, yelling at the parchment.

"Dinah, shh," whispered Camryn. Half of the common room had abandoned their talks to glance over at Dinah.

"What are you looking at?" she snapped at them.

"Now we know for sure this wasn't James and Sirius," said Kaelin softly.

"Yeah, he would never call you _that_," Dinah said disgustedly.

"It's okay," said Lily, continuing to stare at the words, "I'm used to it from Snape."

"Hate that kid," muttered Camryn. She shook her brown bangs out of her eyes.

"That's two now," voiced Jensen, "isn't it?"

Lily nodded. "What do you think they mean?"

"Someone is obviously trying to give you a warning," Dinah said.

"Not sure who the hell it is though," finished Kaelin.

"What do we have here?" Black asked, snatching the parchment out of Dinah's hands.

Dinah managed to grab it back before the Marauders could read it. "It's none of your business Sirius," she said, giving him a very stern looking face.

Somehow Sirius understood her. James said, "We came over to see how our favorite girls were doing."

Lily glowered at him. The boys settled themselves on the floor in front of the fire. Remus managed to squeeze in next to Camryn on the couch. Lily was glad she had picked an armchair for the night, or she knew that Potter would have tried to sit with her.

"Where's Peter?" asked Kaelin looking around for the mousey boy.

"Wormtail," Sirius called, surveying the room, "no idea."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Remus, are you feeling okay?" questioned Jensen. "You look really pale."

Lily focused her eyes one Remus Lupin. He did look pale in the face, and Lily had a vague idea of why he did. Remus' gray eyes locked with Lily's for a moment. He had told Lily about his secret in fifth year, when she kept badgering him about the cuts. Plus, by then Lily had already mostly figured it out. Lily, Dinah, and Kaelin were the only ones that knew. Camryn never bothered to ask, and Jensen was new. So she didn't know any better.

"Just feeling a bit under the weather," he said easily.

Sirius and James shifted awkwardly. "So," began James, obviously trying to get Jensen's attention off of Remus, "good practice the other day."

"Yeah, I think we have a shot of winning this thing," said Dinah. "It depends on how good the teams from the other schools are. Slytherpuff is no competition."

"Slytherpuff?" Camryn asked, totally confused.

"Yeah, that's what they are calling themselves," said Kaelin, "Slytherin and Hufflepuff but together.

"And you guys are Gryffindclaw?" wondered Lily, laughing slightly.

"Close Evans," James said, "Ravendor."

A chorus of laughter went around the circle. "Who is on the team from Ravenclaw?"

"Amelia Bones and Timmy Greenbow," answered Dinah, seeing what kind of reaction Lily would get upon hearing her crushes name.

Lily showed no outward emotion, but inside, her stomach did a back flip. Why hadn't her friends told her that he was on their team?

"Yeah, surprisingly Amelia is a decent Keeper," said Kaelin, "and I never noticed how quick Timmy is. He's really good."

Kaelin smirked at Lily. Lily narrowed her eyes at Kaelin. James watched this exchange in pure jealousy. He quickly figured there must be something going on between Lily and this Timmy person. And James did not like that.

Sirius took no note and continued, "We're going to win this Cup!"

The Quidditch freaks joined him in chanting _'Quidditch Cup! Quidditch Cup!' _Lily laughed along with them. Quidditch talk usually bored her to death, but Lily found her self somewhat interested about the upcoming season. It could be because Timmy Greenbow was finally on a team that Lily was allowed to cheer for, she would never tell.

"Emer," Camryn said drawing her attention back to reality, "did you ever send a response back to your dad?"

A hand slapped to Lily's forehead. "Thanks for reminding me!" Lily jumped up and took the stairs two at a time up to the girls' dormitory.

"What does she have to respond to her dad for?" Sirius asked curiously, following Lily's retreating back.

"Never you mind," Dinah said giving Sirius the look that made him stop asking questions.

Camryn wondered how Dinah could do it. A simple look from Dinah made Sirius cower and shut up. Yet teachers and other students alike had trouble getting the annoying young man to shut up. Camryn had learned to at least get along with the Marauders, since they were friends with Dinah and Kaelin. Dinah had asked both her and Lily to act like they could stand them, she never said anything about liking them.

"Where did you just go?" Kaelin asked Camryn waving a hand in front of her face.

The crystal blue eyes focused on her friend's hand. "Oh nowhere, I just remembered, I have to go finish that Care of Magical Creatures essay."

"Do you want some help?" Remus asked, pushing himself off the couch.

Camryn looked at him awkwardly for a minute. "Uh, sure."

James and Sirius both shot Remus looks of pure laughter as he passed them, trailing behind Camryn.

"He totally fancies her," Sirius whispered, a little too loudly.

A heavy textbook connected with his head. "I heard that," Remus said before stepping out through the portrait hole.

"He does," exclaimed Sirius once Remus was completely out of sight.

* * *

"So Moony, how was the library?" James asked, raising his eyebrows knowingly.

Remus glared at his friends through gray eyes. "It's not like that."

"It's weird, I always thought Camryn fancied Padfoot," James said shining his Dart 200 with his Broom Servicing Kit.

"She doesn't fancy me," muttered Remus.

"She didn't object to having you come to the library with her," Sirius pointed out.

"That's because I don't annoy her out of her wits like you do," Remus said sharply.

"See, you do like her!" exclaimed Sirius. "Good thing, cause I thought she liked me too, and she's just a little too much for me."

Sirius shook his dark shaggy hair out of his dark eyes. The girls at Hogwarts loved the way his hair fell so elegantly into his dark and mysterious eyes. And Sirius knew it too. He had a way with women, almost so that he could corrupt their minds into thinking he was the sexiest male in the castle. Remus looked neither bothered or put out by his friends comment. He merely trudged over to his bed, sat upon it, and sighed.

"What's up Moony?" James asked, placing all the broom cleaning products back into its neat little kit.

"Full moon is coming up," he sighed again.

Sirius yelled, gleefully. He was clearly excited for the adventures the full moon brought, but Remus was hardly looking forward to it. The last full moon took a lot of energy out of him, which left him falling behind in his studies. Teachers asked him what was wrong; he could not rightly tell them that he was a werewolf. He faked many stomachaches and took refuge in the Hospital Wing.

James' hazel eyes swept over his tired friend once more. "It won't be as bad as last time."

Remus nodded.

"We will make sure of it," James said firmly. "Right, Padfoot?"

Sirius also nodded. James cleared his throat, certainly trying to find a more appropriate and not as depressing topic, as the full moon. "So what do you reckon Lily has to write back to her dad about?"

"She probably needs more quills or something," Sirius said offhandedly.

Remus scoffed. "Padfoot, are you dull? Her parents are muggles; they don't own quills or anything of that such."

"Well, it was a nice guess," Sirius mumbled.

After a minute Sirius threw his hand up in the air and said, "I know!"

"Know what?" James asked, leaning back against his pillows.

"Why Evans was writing to her dad," Sirius said breathlessly. "Dinah told me." He said after receiving confused looks from both James and Remus. "Her sister is getting married, and she has to go. Dinah is going with her."

"A wedding?" Remus said.

"I didn't know Lily had a sister," said James.

"I did," Remus said.

James glared at him. "Maybe if you talked to her once in awhile you would know these things, instead of accusing her."

This statement received silence from James. "What else did Dinah tell you?"

A faraway look appeared on Sirius' face as if thinking real hard. "Oh yeah, she told me something else. But she made me swear not to tell anyone."

James gave Sirius an accusing look. "And has that ever stopped you before?"

"Prongs, the woman will kill me if she finds out I told you," he argued.

"You're afraid of a girl."

"Have you seen her when she's mad, not the prettiest sight ever?"

James glared at Sirius.

"Fine, fine," Sirius sighed, "but if she ever finds out, I'm blaming you."


	5. The Wedding

_wow, do i suck at updating or what. im soorry this has taken soo long to get up. but ive been soo busy with volleyball and school. blah. but ill have another update up shortly. i promise. but since im updating now, reviews would be lovely._

_sadly, i dont own harry potter._

**Chapter Five: The Wedding**

"Tomorrow is Halloween already," stated Camryn, as the girls sat out by the lake, admiring the last of the sunshine and warmth that would probably be at Hogwarts.

"I'm so ready for that feast," Dinah said, rubbing her stomach absentmindedly.

"You're starting to sound like Black," Lily said, completely absorbed in her Ancient Runes text.

Dinah glared at Lily, who didn't notice. "It's not fair that you two get to go to the wedding," complained Kaelin.

"If I could I would take all of you," Lily said earnestly. "But I don't think Petunia would like it if I brought four other people. She probably didn't even want me at the wedding. Needless to say she would be mortally terrified if I brought more 'freaks' home with me."

"Your sister sounds like a lovely person," Jensen observed.

"She's the best!" Lily exclaimed sarcastically.

"Hey Cam," Kaelin said drawing the brunette out of her daydream, "how was studying with Remus yesterday?"

A knowing twinkle appeared in Kaelin's eyes. "What are you trying to get at?"

"Everyone knows he fancies you," Dinah dragged, "it's so obvious."

"Yeah," Jensen said, "even I noticed it."

Lily smiled. Camryn had never had a stable relationship. Come to think of it, Camryn has never had a relationship, just acquaintances. It would be nice for her to settle down with someone like Remus Lupin.

"Whatever," muttered Camryn. "You guys have no idea what you are talking about."

"You're talking to us," Dinah said astonished, "your best friends and the best people for setting people up!"

Camryn did not look convinced, so Dinah focused her gaze on Jensen. "What about you Lime? Any boys you particularly fancy?"

Unease passed Jensen's face. "Oh come on," probed Kaelin, "there has to be someone you fancy. I mean, Hogwarts does have its fair share of the male specimen."

Jensen laughed. "Not anyone in particular," Jensen lied through her teeth.

Lily found this interesting. Why would Jensen want to lie about someone she fancied? Lily can't remember a time when she was that ashamed to fancy someone. Trying to find some trace of something on the girls face, Lily said, "Well you have to think someone is good-looking."

The girl sighed, knowing she wasn't going to be getting out of this one. Jensen mumbled something incoherent to ever living thing on earth.

"Lime, you are going to have to speak up love," Camryn said easily.

"Fine, fine," she sighed, this seemed to be taking a lot out of her. "James."

Shrieks followed the one word sentence. "James, James Potter?" Kaelin asked, surely she had heard wrong.

"The very one," Jensen mumbled, blushing. Jensen glanced around at her new friends trying to see how they took the news. Dinah and Kaelin looked thrilled but somewhat apprehensive. Camryn held a look of utter disgust on her perfect features. And Lily… Jensen couldn't read Lily. Her face was as blank as a wall.

"Well, lord knows James could do with someone other than an airhead," Dinah said attempting to ease the sudden stiffness.

Jensen could barely smile. For some reason she felt like she had betrayed her friends, Lily in particular. She knew the whole history of Lily Evans and James Potter, how could she not? But during those Quidditch practices, Jensen had found that James wasn't as heartless as Lily always claimed him to be. She found herself looking forward to Quidditch more and more just to spend time with James, even though she was certain he couldn't have cared less about her.

"I say you talk to him sometime this week," Kaelin stated. "Since all the new schools are coming in, talk to him before he finds some foreigner to seduce."

"Preferably on the first when I will not be here," Lily said. "I particularly do not wanna witness this exchange."

A cloud of disappointment hung over Jensen. Dinah glared at Lily. "Emer, just because you have an utter dislike for him doesn't mean Jensen can't like him."

Lily fell silent for a moment, then nodded. Jensen sighed in relief, somehow this made her feel tons better knowing that Lily approved. "I just don't want to see you get hurt."

Tears welled up in Jensen's eyes. No one had ever cared if she was hurt by some guy. They would have wanted her to get hurt, but no, with Lily and these girls they truly cared about her and wanted to make sure she wasn't forgotten.

Lily smiled slightly at Jensen. It had only been a couple months since they have met, but she knew that befriending Jensen was by far one of the most intelligent things she has done of late. A bell sounded over the grounds, signaling the end of their free period. Each girl hurried off in a separate direction seeing as none of them had the same class at the moment. Lily took the staircase down to the Dungeons, double Potions was awaiting her in the gloomy undergrounds. The worst part about double Potions was the fact that she had to spend more time in the presence of James Potter. Lily gagged just thinking about it.

Entering the Potions dungeon meant endearing another two hours of Professor Slughorn doting over her. The first couple years Lily had loved the attention Professor Slughorn gave her. She soon found out that nearly everyone thought she was a teachers pet, and from that time on she tried to bring as little to no attention on herself since then.

Lily seated herself at the table in the back corner, where she usually sat. Her fellow Potions partner, Timmy Greenbow, was already placing his cauldron on the burner.

"Hey Lily," Timmy said softly, as she dropped her bags onto the table top.

"Hey," said Lily, feeling her heart flutter.

"Good morning class!" Professor Slughorn said brightly, hurrying into the classroom. He waved his wand and instructions immediately appeared on the black board at the front of the classroom. "Today we will be concocting a very difficult Sleeping Draught. Ten extra points to the student who finishes first. Begin!"

With that, Lily bustled through her ingredients and quickly began to stew over her cauldron. Surprisingly, Potions was one of her better classes, right along with Charms, Transfiguration, and Ancient Runes. Defense Against the Dark Arts was one of the classes Lily found herself having trouble in.

"Your potion should be about a blue hazy mist at the moment," Professor Slughorn instructed, moving between the tables to examine the contents of the cauldrons.

Slughorn stopped by Lily's cauldron and a whoop of glee escaped him. "Miss Evans, excellent. It's the perfect color and texture! Keep it up!"

Lily heard a noise from her side and turned to find Severus Snape glaring menacingly at her. Lily knew that Potions was by far Snape's favorite subject, besides DADA. He hated to be outsmarted by Lily in anything. A small crept onto Lily's face. Take that Snape! She felt like yelling at him.

The only thing she and the Marauders had in common were their utter dislike for Severus Snape. He was an ugly, malicious grease ball in Lily's opinion. She glared at him until he resumed writing little side notes in his _Advanced Potion Making_ copy. Lily rolled her bright green eyes and continued with her potion.

By the end of class, Lily's potion was a shimmering gold emitting a heavenly smell. Slughorn clapped his fat little hands all too excitedly declaring Lily the winner of the contest. Snape hissed at her as she passed his table.

"Always the winner," said Timmy, smiling.

"I can't help it," she said. "It's just too natural."

Timmy chuckled. "I'll see you in Defense."

"Okay, that is one class I cannot get good marks in," moaned Lily.

"Oh the perfect Lily Evans having trouble in a class!" he exclaimed. "I'm shocked!"

"Oh, shut up Timmy," she said, swatting his arm.

Was she flirting with Timmy?

"Hey," he said, packing up his books, "if you ever need any help, just ask. I'm not half bad at Defense, unlike other classes. Maybe you could help me out with Charms sometime?"

"Okay," Lily said, feeling herself heating up. "Thanks for the offer."

Timmy nodded and exited the class.

Lily noticed that Potter hadn't said one thing to her the whole class period as she began packing up the rest of her ingredients. She spoke too soon, Potter ambled up to her, glaring at the retreating back of Timmy Greenbow.

"What Potter?" Lily asked, not feeling at all in the mood of a fight, she was too happy.

James shifted awkwardly. "I heard that you're going away on the first." Lily's eyes blazed at him. How had he found out? "Don't get your panties in a bunch. Dinah told Sirius, who in turn told me. It's not a big deal. Just, look out for yourself. After the train, you don't know what could happen."

"Potter, I hardly doubt that Voldemort would come looking for me at a Muggle wedding," Lily said positively. James didn't wince as Lily mentioned the Dark Lords name. He found it entrancing that Lily would say the name in the first place; he thought only he and Dumbledore were the ones brave enough to say his name.

"That doesn't mean he won't try," Potter said, moving to the door. "Keep you're eyes peeled at all times, okay?"

Lily didn't have time to reply as Potter swept out of the dungeon before she could. Putting Potter's words aside Lily walked the many flights back up to the Great Hall where she found her friends already eating.

"How was Potions?" Dinah asked Lily, grabbing a chicken leg.

Lily glared at her. "You told Black that we were leaving this weekend?"

"It's just Sirius, who was he going to tell?"

"Potter."

Kaelin looked at her curiously. "Did James come up to you and ask you about it or something?"

"He did come up to me," Lily said sitting by Camryn, "but he warned me."

"Warned you?" Camryn asked worriedly.

"He thinks Voldemort is going to show up at my sisters wedding," Lily said easily. A collective murmur rose with her friends.

"That's ridiculous!" exclaimed Jensen.

"James is just trying to obviously get a rise out of you," Dinah said.

"Yeah, it's not like he was serious," Kaelin added.

Lily nodded. But she couldn't shake the feeling that Potter knew something that she didn't know. And she didn't like that.

* * *

"Dinah are you done packing yet?" Lily asked irritably. They had been scheduled to meet Professor Dumbledore in his office ten minutes ago to use his fireplace to travel to Lily's house in London. "We were supposed to be there forever ago."

Dinah emerged from the girl's dormitory with a single bag. "I'm ready."

"That's all, what took you so long!?" Lily asked incredulously.

"I had to put a charm on my bag to make it fit all my stuff but to keep looking like this," said Dinah exasperatedly. "I'm not as gifted with Charms as you are."

Lily huffed. "Come on, everyone will be coming back from the feast soon. We don't want them to see us."

It had been Dumbledore's idea to have Lily and Dinah leave that Halloween night while everyone was at the feast as to not draw attention to them missing the next morning. The two girls hurried along the corridors to the stone gargoyle.

"Sugar cube," Lily said firmly, the gargoyle sprang to life. The girls stepped into the moving stairs and allowed them to rise to the Headmasters office.

Dinah brought her hand up to the door but Dumbledore's low voice said, "Come on in Miss Evans and Miss McKey."

The girls entered Dumbledore's office, mouths hanging wide open. Pictures of previous Headmasters and Headmistresses occupied most of the wall space. While the rest of his office held many different objects and trinkets. One such trinket was whirring softly, Lily wanted to take another look at it but Dumbledore instructed them over to the fireplace.

Dumbledore stuck his long fingers into a tin withdrawing Floo Powder. "I will be expecting you back here no later than five o'clock tomorrow evening. I have arranged for a Portkey for the two of you to use. You will arrive outside the Three Broomsticks and Professor McGonagall will be there to accompany you up to the castle."

"Sir," Lily said, "what is the Portkey going to be?"

Dumbledore extricated an old newspaper out of thin air. He handed it to Lily who quickly hid it in her bag. "It won't initiate until tomorrow at five o'clock. Do you have any questions?"

Dinah and Lily looked to each other. "Thank you, once again Professor," Lily said.

"No problem Lily. You two have fun!" With that he threw the Floo Powder into the fireplace. Instantly the normal yellow flames turned to high green ones.

Lily stepped into the fire and said clearly, "144 Spinners End." The last thing she saw was Dumbledore and Dinah's faces looking at her before she closed her eyes tightly. She predominantly hated the sensation of Floo Powder. It usually made her feel like tossing up her latest meal.

Lily fell out of a fireplace, coughing. A bustle of people surrounded her as she stood up shaking soot off herself. "Lily darling!" Mr. Evans, Steve, exclaimed, picking his daughter up into his arms. "How are you dear?"

"I'm fine Dad," Lily said. The arrival of Dinah sent Lily back to the floor as Dinah had fallen out of the fireplace in exactly the same place Lily had.

Laughing, Dinah and Lily stood again. "Dad, this is Dinah. Dinah this is my dad. She's the friend I brought back."

"Excellent!" he said heartily. Dinah already liked him.

"Where is everyone else?" Lily asked, her eyes searching the barren room.

"Bachelorette party, Andrea set it up for Petunia."

"Where's the troll baby?"

Steve gave his daughter a stern look. "Matthew is spending the night at his grandparent's house. We thought it would be best for him to get a good night sleep."

Lily nodded not caring in the least where the troll was. She was highly exhilarated that no one else was in the house tonight. "Okay Dad, I'm going to go show Dinah the basement."

"Alright, I'm going to turn in Lils," Steve said, yawning. "I'll be waking you up around seven."

"Night Dad," Lily said hugging her father.

"Night Mr. Evans!" called Dinah.

"Are you ready to see the basement?" Lily asked, no longer able to contain her excitement.

* * *

"Bloody hell Lily," Dinah breathed, "I'm coming to your house more often."

Lily had shed her robes and school clothes and now donned skin tight yoga pants and a loose long sleeve shirt with a pair of ice skates. She was sliding slowly along the fresh ice, it felt so good to skate. Dinah was standing on the side, watching in awe as Lily did complex patterns and jumps that looked humanly impossible.

"This is my sanctuary," Lily said peacefully. "Come on!"

"Merlin no!" exclaimed Dinah, shaking her hands in front of her. "Quidditch is my thing, I don't skating would suit me well."

Lily smiled. "I'll teach you."

"Lily!" Petunia's voice boomed from the stairs. "Turn that awful music down! And Daddy says its time for bed! You have to get up early tomorrow!"

Lily glared in the direction of her older sister's voice. Dinah sniggered. "You can show me more some other time."

* * *

"Lily dear," Steve said, rousing his sleeping daughter, "come on darling, it's time to get up."

Lily groaned. "Just a couple more minutes Dad."

Steve chuckled. "Lily, now."

Reluctantly, Lily threw her blankets off. "And your dress is hanging over there." Her father pointed somewhere to the left of him. "Petunia expects you ready at eight. She says she wants all her brides' maids ready for pictures."

Lily bolted up in bed. "Brides maid!?"

"Petunia didn't tell you?" Steve wondered.

The redhead shook her head. Dinah was beginning to stir in the bed next to her. "No, she obviously didn't."

"Well, I expect you to be on your best behavior."

With that, Steve exited the room followed by a soft click of the door. Lily turned to Dinah, outraged. "Brides maid! Is she kidding me? My dad must have made her do it. She would never have wanted to make me a bride's maid. She wouldn't want me to ruin her little wedding by being some sort of freak."

"Lily, it's not that bad. Maybe the dress is really pretty," offered Dinah, moving to the area where the dress was hanging. "I take that back."

Lily didn't even want to look at the hideous dress. She made Dinah take it off the hanger and help her get into the dress. Once or twice Dinah made a sound but Lily couldn't identify it as horror or pleasure.

"Emer, you can open your eyes now."

One emerald eye opened at a time. Lily gasped. "Oh my Merlin," the girls said together.

"It's beautiful," whispered Lily, fingering the silky fabric between her fingers.

"It was more than pretty," Dinah stated, making Lily twirl in front of the mirror.

That was an understatement. The emerald colored dress matched Lily's eyes perfectly, making them pop more than usual. It was a strapless dress that hugged Lily's figure down to its every curve. It was completely simple, but the simpler it was the more beautiful it seemed.

"So I guess my sister doesn't have horrible taste," Lily admitted, checking herself out in the mirror.

"Curls?" questioned Dinah, grabbing her wand from the bedside table.

"Definitely." Dinah made a simple flick of the wrist and Lily's hair fell into long gorgeous auburn curls. Dinah turned her wand to her own head and her light brown hair instantly became stick straight.

"What are you going to wear?" asked Lily.

"Kaelin lent me this dress," she said, fiddling with her knapsack. Out of the tiny brown bag appeared a long red and white dress. "It's nothing too fancy. You know how I can't stand dresses as it is."

"It suits you well."

A pounding interrupted their conversation. "We're leaving for the church in five minutes," Petunia screeched at them.

Five minutes later, Dinah and Lily had clambered down the stairs and into the limo that was waiting outside of the house. Petunia's other bride's maids were just as Lily suspected, disgusted with her and Dinah.

"Couldn't you find a proper date, Lily?" one of them chuckled, pointing at Dinah.

Lily's eyes narrowed. She bit back the retort that was begging to be said. She noticed Dinah's hand was clutched very tightly around what could only be her wand which was now hidden in her overcoat. Lily's own wand was tucked inside of the little bag she was carrying. She didn't like the distant she was sharing with her wand, it made her feel vulnerable and uncomfortable.

The drive to the church couldn't have last any longer than Lily wished. She and Dinah pushed themselves out of the limo wanting to distance themselves as far away from the bride's party as they could.

Many relatives Lily hadn't seen in years were coming up to her. Asking her how she's been, where's she's been for so long, and how her boarding school was. Lily answered each question patiently, and was thankful that someone came to tell her that pictures were going to start at any moment. Dinah wished her luck. Lily grimaced as she was pulled away from her friend.

A bouquet of flowers was thrust into Lily's hands, and was told to smile. Pictures took half an hour, half an hour longer than Lily ever wanted them to go. Finally, the priest came to tell Petunia that they were ready to start.

Petunia let out a joyous scream. The other girls were excited as well. Lily merely yawned. She hated weddings. They were boring as hell to her. She was also trying to keep her eyes and ears at watch for any unusual movement.

Music filled the church, Lily walked down the aisle towards the ugly, fat oaf named Vernon Dursley. His piggy eyes narrowed at her as she walked to the side to stand. Lily smiled.

A door opened at the end of the church and two people entered. Lily couldn't make out who it was but she wondered.

"It couldn't be," she muttered. Lily glanced at Dinah to see if she had noticed the intruders, but found her friend chatting happily to her Grandma Mae.

Letting her suspicions slide, Lily faced Petunia who had just appeared at the end of the church with Steve Evans on her arm. Lily had to admit, the usual horsy Petunia looked beautiful in her long, flowing white gown.

* * *

"That had to be the longest wedding I've ever been to," moaned Dinah, leaning back in her chair.

Dinah and Lily were seated at a table in the hall where the reception was being held at. Lily's fierce eyes were still searching the hall, trying to catch a closer glimpse of who she thought she saw earlier.

"Do you see anything out of the ordinary?" Lily asked her.

Dinah glanced around, grimacing. "Besides the fact that one of your uncles is beginning to come a little too drunk, nope."

Steve appeared at Lily's side. "We need you to say something. And make it nice." He added as he saw the look on his daughters face.

Lily let, which felt like the hundredth time of the day, someone pull her along behind them. Steve pushed her in front of the microphone, a playful yet encouraging smile on his gracious features.

Suddenly overcome with stage fright, Lily glanced around nervously at all the people, people she hadn't gazed upon in years. There was her crazy Aunt Laura with all her ten children running about her. And Uncle Mark was drinking, not to anyone's surprise. Grandma Mae looked quite peaceful for some reason, sitting back in her chair a huge smile plastered on her weather worn face. Seeing all her relatives in one place made her feel confined. Don't get her wrong, it's always great to see the family, but too much of it at one time could be slightly overwhelming.

Lily took a deep breath, letting those thoughts leave her mind, bringing her hand up to the microphone. It squeaked loudly. Groans emitted from everyone in the tent. Lily apologized profusely, but something caught her eye. At the back of the tent, through the opening, Lily could make out a small group advancing the tent. Fear struck Lily. They were coming closer and closer. Lily sighed. They were just another group of family members. Lily instantly recognized her fat uncle Patrick, he couldn't be missed. Stupid Lily, she needed to stop being so paranoid.

Death Eaters wouldn't come to her sisters wedding.

"Sorry," Lily said again into the microphone, her voice bouncing off the tent walls. "I would just like to wish a very much needed congratulations to my sister, who has been able to find the love of her life. And everyone knows that that doesn't come by often." A collective murmur ran through the crowd. Lily smiled, feeling her confidence rising. "I haven't been around as much for my sister as I would have liked. But I would like her to know, that even though we do fight and we don't get along very well, she will always be in my heart. She is my sister after all. And to you Vernon, she's your problem now!" Laughter coursed through the crowd. "But most of all be happy with what you have now. You don't know how long you are going to have it. True love isn't easy to find, and you two have it. I hope you live a long, happy, and fulfilling life. To Petunia and Vernon Dursley!"

"To Petunia and Vernon Dursley!" the crowd chanted back.

Lily took a swig of her champagne and stole a glance at her sister. She was surprised to see tears glistening against her well powdered cheeks. The sister's met and embraced each other like they haven't in years.

"Lily I'm so sorry for all the mean things I said to you," Petunia gushed.

"It's okay," Lily said hugging her sister. "I understand."

Lily seated herself back down by Dinah. "So where did all that come from?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea."

Sooner than a thought could even run through Lily's mind, a flash of green light crossed the entire tent, hitting Steve Evans straight in the chest. Lily let out a terrible scream. Without even a second thought, Lily and Dinah jumped to their feet, wands raised out in front of them. Lily attempted to run to her father, but Dinah stopped her. "Not now," Dinah said softly.

The people Lily saw walk in before her speech were on their feet. Her supposed Uncle Patrick now had a thick wand out in front of him. They aimed their wands on Petunia and Vernon.

"_PROTEGO TOTALUM!_" Lily pointed her wand at the couple and shouted with all her might. "How they hell did they find us here?"

"I have no idea," Dinah said pushing people to get out of the way, sending a Stunning Spell at one of the Death Eaters.

Everyone was screaming now, it didn't seem to help Lily's concentration at all. First thing in her mind was her family's safety. Which she now realized, were most of the people in the tent.

"There's too many of them," said Dinah, advancing on a stout looking man, "for only the two of us."

"We're going to have to try," Lily said, sending a spell at the fake Uncle Patrick. He collapsed instantly.

Another pair of Death Eaters were closing in on them. Out of nowhere, two sets of red beams hit their attackers. Lily and Dinah whipped around to see two boys hurrying toward them.

"Sirius, James what the bloody hell are you two doing here?" shouted Dinah.

"Didn't think we would let you two go to a wedding all by yourselves now, did we?" James attempted to crack a smile.

"How did you know this was going to happen?" Lily asked, thankful that someone else was here to help them. The anger she had at first sight of them vanished immediately.

"Dumbledore," Sirius said simply.

Lily didn't have time to suppress her anger at Dumbledore, seeing as they were soon hounded by at least five Death Eaters.

"Sorry to break up your little reunion," a woman said pointing her wand at Lily's heart, "well come to think of it, I'm not sorry. _CRUCIO!_"

Pain like never before pierced Lily's body. She heard James yell some spell at the woman, and the pain subsided. Two hazel eyes bent down to meet her green ones. "Are you okay?" he asked, fear masked his face.

Lily nodded. "_Stupefy!_" A Death Eater had been creeping up on James.

"Thanks," he mumbled to her, helping Lily onto her feet.

Someone ran passed Lily shrieking. She noticed it was her Aunt Laura, all her children following in her wake. Grandma Mae was being pressed into the corner of the tent. Lily jumped up and ran to her. Brandishing a small, thin wand, Grandma Mae muttered a jinx that made her attacker fly twenty feet in the air and fall to the ground with a sickening thud.

Lily stood there, dumbfounded. "G-Grandma Mae?"

"Where did you think you got it from?" the old lady said smiling.

"But you're not a blood relative," Lily said, still not taking in what she had just witnessed.

"Ah, blood smlood," Grandma Mae said airily, "doesn't mean anything. Now come on, I haven't got my normal spark seeing as I haven't used magic in so many years."

"Where can we take them?" asked Lily, running along the elderly woman. "There is nowhere safe enough for them."

Grandma Mae grabbed a wine glass off the table. "_Portus_," she whispered. The wine glass turned a vibrant shade of blue. "Grab anything, send them to my house."

Lily obeyed. She grabbed everything she could, turning it into a Portkey. She instructed the groups of people to touch it and they will be safe. Nearly everyone was out of the tent now.

"_Impedimenta!_" Lily heard Dinah shout. Dinah, James, and Sirius were being circled by no more than ten Death Eaters.

"Grandma, can you finish the Portkey's?" she asked, nervously glancing to her friends.

"Yes, yes," she said hastily, "go help your friends!"

"_Locomotor Mortis_," Lily said quietly to the closet Death Eater. His legs locked and fell.

All attention turned to Lily. A wicked smile appeared on the face of the woman James had fought off earlier. "Miss Evans, just the girl we were looking for," she sneered. "_Expelliarmus!_"

She was too quick for Lily. Her wand flew out of her hand and into her attackers. Now defenseless, Lily felt increasingly weak.

"Bellatrix?" Sirius asked incredulously.

Bellatrix Black merely laughed. "My dear baby cousin, how lovely it is to see you. I see you haven't changed much. Still hanging around with this riffraff," she said motioning to James, who was now bound tightly in invisible ropes, struggling to break free.

"What do you want?" Lily asked firmly.

"Master requests for us to bring you to him," Bellatrix said a note of disgust in her voice, twirling Lily's wand in her hand.

"Why?"

"Master did not specify," a man said close to her. "We just do what we are told."

Lily closed her eyes, wishing she had her wand so she could Stun them or something. She kept thinking in her head, _stupefy_, _stupefy_, _stupefy_. The man closest to her dropped to the floor. Her green eyes snapped open.

Bellatrix whipped around, mouth hanging open. "What did you just do?" she demanded. "Did you just Stun Avery?"

Lily shook her head, wondering herself if she had just done that. "Someone get him up." Two men attempted to pick up Avery. "He's been Stunned," one of them said. Bellatrix narrowed her black heartless eyes on Lily. "Powerful you are no wonder Master wants you."

Wishing that she could untie her friends, Lily continued to stare straight at Bellatrix. She would not be intimidated by her. Dinah moved her arms, noticing the invisible ropes had been released. Lily took this as her chance. She lunged at Bellatrix. Completely unaware of Lily jumped on her, the pair fell to the floor. Allowing Lily's wand to escape her grasp. She jumped on her wand and quickly returned to her feet. "_Expelliarmus!_" she shouted at the man holding the other wands captive.

Each wand flew back to its respective owner. Lily grabbed a fork from a table nearby. "_Portus._" The fork changed from its original silver to a vibrant blue.

"Come on," Lily urged her friends, "grab on."

The Portkey shone a brilliant shade of blue, and she felt the familiar jerk in her stomach. They landed, on the ground, in front of the Three Broomsticks. Not moving for a minute, Lily was able to catch her breath and examine her friends' wounds.

Sirius clutched at his arm, his upper arm bleeding profusely. Lily pointed her wand at the wound, muttering words that no one could understand. Sirius' wound healed. "Thanks Evans."

Lily nodded. Dinah sported a black and blue mark on her face. Other than that, she looked injury free. Lily turned to James and gasped. He had a huge gash running down the length of his face. Lily did the same to his wound as she had done to Sirius'. Lily could not heal it all the way, a little scar still traced down his cheek.

"Thanks," James said.

"So, exactly why were you two at my sister's wedding?" Lily asked, standing.

"Well you see," Sirius began, "Dinah here informed us about these little notes that you were being sent."

"I knew that you knew, but why did you come?" Lily asked.

James said, "We told Dumbledore about them, and he thought it was best that we went along too. Secretly of course, he knew that you wouldn't like the idea of us coming. We were supposed to keep our eyes out for Death Eaters."

Lily couldn't argue with that. They did save their lives. "Who was that little old lady?" Sirius asked amused.

"My Grandma Mae," Lily said. "I never knew she was a witch."

"Is she on your side?"

"No, she is my step-mum's mum."

Dinah slapped her head. "I should have known! When she was talking to me, she kept asking things about if I went to school with Lily, and if I liked it there, and if I was learning a lot."

"Well, she saved us too."

"I think everyone got out okay," Sirius said, they were now making their way back up to the castle.

Lily's heart dropped. She had completely forgotten. She turned on the spot. "Dinah, I have to go back, my dad."

"Lily, it's done," Dinah said softly. "We can't bring him back."

"Dinah, it's my dad!" she shouted at her friend.

She stood, determined on Apparating back to the scene of the crime. Dinah pulled her back to her, making sure Lily would not Apparate.

Grief poured out of Lily. She couldn't hold back the tears now. A pair of strong arms held her close. She buried her head into James' chest. "We need to go tell Dumbledore."


	6. UltraClutch

**Chapter Six: Ultra-Clutch**

"We need to see Professor Dumbledore!" Dinah shouted at the first teacher, which happened to be Filch, they saw.

"I know not where Professor Dumbledore is," Filch said menacingly, another set of Dung Bombs have been set off on the fourth corridor. His angry eyes glared at the two Marauders.

"It wasn't us!" Sirius called, as they continued to run down the corridor.

"Wait!" James said abruptly, pulling a thin, tattered piece of parchment from his bag. He tapped his wand to it, muttering something Lily could not understand.

Not that Lily was paying any attention really, she kept staring off into space, her thoughts consuming her very being. Nothing seemed right to her. Lily's father couldn't be dead. Steve Evans is tough. She must have imagined the whole thing, yeah that sounded good. She just imagined seeing her dad drop dead in the middle of the reception.

"Lily," Dinah said gently, tugging on her arm, "Dumbledore is in his study."

Lily found herself being dragged completely by Dinah to the Headmaster's Office. The four stopped suddenly at the entrance with the two stone gargoyles. Sirius attempted to jump through the barrier which only resulted in him being thrown onto the floor by an invisible force.

"Bloody hell," he moaned, Dinah abandoned Lily for a moment to help him up.

"What's the password?" James asked, looking at Dinah and Lily.

"Sugar cube," Lily said weakly.

The gargoyles jumped aside, allowing them to pass into Dumbledore's study. Someone pulled Lily onto the stone steps as they rose higher and higher. Sirius was the first to the door, banging loudly three times.

A patient voice answered, "Come on in."

The four students pushed their way through the heavy oak door and entered Dumbledore's study. Before Lily had been mystified by all the beautiful trinkets that twinkled and whirred about the study, now all she wanted to do was chuck something heavy at them so they would shut up!

Dumbledore was sitting peacefully behind his enormous desk, soft lavender robes hanging off his thin body. He noticed the looks on their faces, forehead wrinkling in curiosity.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you four back for at least two hours," he said easily, his piercing blue eyes gazing at each of them intently.

James cleared his throat. "Uh, well, Professor, you see we ran into some trouble."

"There were Death Eaters at the damn wedding!" Sirius exclaimed loudly, causing some disturbance of the pictures, shuffling was heard from above to try and get a better view of the conversation happening below.

Dumbledore's expression didn't change. "I feared they would try something like that."

"You knew?" Dinah asked incredulously.

"I didn't know," continued Dumbledore, "it was a guess. My guesses usually turn out to be correct, and that's precisely why I wanted James and Sirius to attend the wedding."

Lily continued to stare at the floor. A dead look washed out her once bright green eyes. She knew that Dumbledore was looking at her, but she couldn't lift her eyes off the ground. A comforting hand grabbed her now clammy one. She didn't even bother to see who it was as it gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"Tell me everything," Dumbledore said, leaning forward, his hands on the desk in front of him.

Dinah started. "We were getting ready for the wedding, just like normal. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary while the actual wedding was going on."

Dumbledore cut her off. "Lily, did you notice anything?" His tone was soft and fatherly, Lily could have slapped him for sounding so paternal. Seeing as now she had no parents left anyway.

Green eyes finally lifted from the floor to stare at the wall behind Dumbledore. "Nothing really. I remember standing there, waiting for Petunia to walk down the aisle, and I think I saw them." She cocked her head to the two boys next to her. "But I thought I was just imaging it, no one was even supposed to know I was even at a wedding."

Dumbledore nodded, acknowledging for Lily to continue.

"We were at the reception, everyone was having a good time," Lily said, she found it hard to speak now. Words were getting stuck in her mouth. "My- My dad came to tell me that I had to make a speech for the bride and the groom. I really didn't want too. I noticed when I was up there that a group of people were making their way to the tent. I didn't make anything of it; they looked like normal guests that were just late."

"I said my speech and sat back down. Almost a second later," Lily choked, tears welled up in her eyes. A strong hand patted her back soothingly.

Dinah took over from there, saddened by Lily's grief. "The Killing Curse hit her dad. We looked around and saw the people Lily had seen walk in on their feet throwing curses at anything that moved."

"That's when we acted," James said. "Sirius and I had been sitting in the back. We saw that group of Death Eaters come in. We thought there was something wrong with them. They looked odd."

Sirius nodded. "So when the first spell went off, James and I tackled the ones that were closest to us. Then the girls spotted us and from then on it was insane."

Dumbledore nodded patiently. "Was anyone else hurt?"

Dinah looked around at them timidly. "I'm not entirely sure, sir. Apparently one of Lily's grandma's is a witch, and she was making Portkey's to give to people."

"We were cornered by a huge group of them," James continued. "Bellatrix Black had Dinah, Sirius, and I bound. We couldn't break free. I have no idea how she did it, but Lily managed to free us without saying a word and no wand."

Dumbledore flicked his eyes back to Lily. "Has this happened before, Lily?"

Lily coughed. She hadn't been listening. "Has what happened before?"

"Have you ever done magic without using a wand?"

She nodded. "Only once before. It was on the night returning to Hogwarts, when we were being attacked. Some Death Eater had me cornered. And I just kept thinking that if I had my wand I would send this Death Eater flying. Then it happened."

Folding his hands on his desk, Dumbledore looked surprised. "What happened today? What caused you to do it again?"

"Well," Lily said, taking a big breath, "like Potter said, they had captured them. I was still making Portkey's for everyone. I jinxed one of the Death Eaters as I approached, and Bellatrix took my wand. I wasn't quick enough. But she kept talking and I kept wanting to Stun someone, so they could drop Dinah and them. One of them did become Stunned. Bellatrix didn't even know what happened. I thought that I would love to have them be untied. I saw Dinah move, her ropes had come undone. I took it as my chance to jump on Bellatrix when her back was turned. She dropped my wand and I got their wands back. I made a Portkey to the Three Broomsticks. And then we came here."

Dumbledore stayed silent for a second after Lily's explanation. "This has never happened before that one night on the train?"

She shook her head.

"Then I doubt Voldemort would have known that you would be able to do wandless magic," he said, speaking to no one in particular.

"Sir," Lily wondered, "why can I do wandless magic?"

It took Dumbledore a moment to stew over the question. When he spoke, Lily was surprised to hear the amazement in his voice. "I honestly cannot tell you why you can do wandless magic, Lily. I've only met one other person in my life that could do it."

"Who?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"Stella Michelle Agatha Maebelle Lord," Dumbledore said defiantly.

The students were stumped. Never before had they ever heard of this person. Surely there would have been something about her in the library if she could do wandless magic.

Dinah was the first to speak. "Wait, Lily isn't that you're Grandma?"

Lily never remembered hearing her Grandmother's full name before. "That is precisely who it is," Dumbledore said.

"But we aren't even blood related!" Lily exclaimed. "She is my step-mum's mother. We're only related through the marriage."

"Yes, I am aware of that. This is my theory," Dumbledore began. "Your birthmother, Lily, died when you were very young. Your father remarried only two years after you were born. Steve Evans parents weren't active in your life, seeing as they thought him marrying only two years after Daisy died was preposterous. Grandma Mae, as you know her, became the fixture in your life that helped you through the hard times that your step-mother could not." Lily knew this was all true. Grandma Mae was practically her only family that didn't find her a freak, besides her dad.

"Mae and I have kept contact through those years, and by the time you were four, she started to see the signs of young magic. To tell you that she was most excited when she found out that you were indeed a witch! Finally someone in her family that could experience the magic of Hogwarts that Mae grew to love. Continuing up to your eleventh birthday, Mae watched you find out you could make things fly and move. I advised her to not say anything in fear of upsetting you somehow. She couldn't have been prouder though. I wrote to her right after your sorting, telling her you made it into Gryffindor house. She cried with tears, Gryffindor had been her house."

"So, thus, I think that from all the care and love that she put into making your life better than it was, her magic somehow seeped its way into your own blood. She was like the mother you never had, and Lily, you had never had the tender care of anyone before. Your step-mother left you to fend for yourself, which I wasn't all too happy about. But Mae made it her life mission to help you grow up to the girl you were destined to be. I know that sounds all farfetched, you could just been any normal Muggleborn witch, but Mae likes to think that she somehow gave you your magical powers."

Lily's thoughts drifted to all the times she had spent with her Grandma Mae, wondering if anything she had ever done or said seemed weird to her now. Not one single memory stuck out in her mind, which could be to the fact that she wasn't really thinking that hard anyway.

"That's all very interesting, Professor," Lily said, "but that doesn't really explain why I can do wandless magic."

His eyes twinkled. "Now Lily, I thought you might catch on." She blushed. "Like I said, Mae liked to think she transferred her magic to you. Mae was an extraordinary witch. It's sad to me that she doesn't continue with it now. But Mae learnt in her fifth year here that she could perform magic without using her wand. She came to me, explaining to me the exact symptoms you have recently just described. Greatly surprised I was to learn this. Mae, as you, was also a Muggleborn. This level of magic is hard to come by, and my knowledge of only knowing her as the only wandless magic performer is strengthened by that."

"So Lily, you can believe what you want. I'm not sure what exactly I believe but I do know you have immense magical power that you have not discovered inside yourself yet. Even if some of Mae's magic has rubbed off on you, only the strength in you can make the magic work."

Somehow, this didn't help Lily at all. She still had no idea why she could do wandless magic when half of the Wizarding World could not. She had never heard of elders' magic seeping into young children around them. Lily wondered if that was true, if Petunia would be a witch also. The thought scared Lily. Her head began to hurt with all the recent discoveries.

All Lily wanted to do was go lay down, but knew she wouldn't find peace in sleep.

Dinah saved her friend from anymore weird explanations. "Professor, why did the Death Eaters attack at Petunia's wedding though? It doesn't make any sense. How would they have known that Lily's sister was having a wedding? And how would they have known the exact location?"

"All very good questions Dinah," Dumbledore chuckled, "right now I think a nice trip to the infirmary is in check. Then you could proceed down to the grounds to greet our students along with the rest of the school."

"But Professor," James started.

He held up a hand to silence the black haired boy. "Not right now James. Lily needs to be tended to, and looking upon you, you as well. I will discuss this night with you in the future. My spirits would be dampened if I must talk about the doings of Lord Voldemort at this very moment when such an important event is about to happen at Hogwarts. I will contact the four of you later this week and we will have our discussion."

The four nodded glumly.

"I'll send Poppy word that you will be coming. Hurry along now, the other schools are due to arrive in half an hour." He ushered them to the door. "James, could I have a quick word with you?"

Curiously, James agreed. Sirius, Dinah, and Lily waited for him at the entrance to Dumbledore's study. James appeared no more than five minutes later, an unreadable expression on his face.

He cleared his throat. "Let's go to the Hospital Wing."

* * *

"Lily!" exclaimed Camryn, as they appeared through the Portrait Hole. "How was the wedding?"

Lily forced a smile to her face. "It was great." She would save the real story for after the other schools arrived.

Dinah nodded eagerly. "Not enough farm animals to fit my liking though."

That managed to make Lily crack a real smile, which she hadn't done since her father... She couldn't even think the word, she couldn't believe that it was real.

"Wait," Dinah said, looking at Camryn carefully, "did you change you hair?"

Camryn smiled slyly. A head of beautiful long dark blond hair swished behind Camryn's back. "I made her do it," Kaelin said shortly, "the short stuff wasn't doing it for me."

"Thank Merlin, I didn't like it either."

"I'm glad you guys are so supportive of me," Camryn said sarcastically.

"Where have you two been?" Kaelin asked suspiciously, glancing between Sirius and James.

Sirius said, "We were down on the grounds all day."

James nodded his agreement.

"Well you should have invited us down!" Kaelin said. "All we did was sit in the library and pretend to do our homework. Boooring."

Lily sighed, thankful that her friend hadn't been more curious. "So, when are we supposed to go down to the Entrance Hall?"

"Right now!" Jensen shouted, grabbing one of Lily and James' arms. "Come on, we want to get a good view."

James looked over Jensen's head to Lily, but she was staring determinedly forward. He sighed. James would have done anything in the world to take the pain away. Sadly, he knew exactly how it was to lose a loved one.

It was ten years to the day that his little brother, Jacob Potter, was taken away from James and his family by Death Eaters. James could remember it like it was yesterday.

_A six year old James jumped through a pile of leaves, wanting to send them flying in every direction. Jacob, four years old at the time, followed his big brothers actions. Their parents sat on the sidelines laughing at the pair. Jacobs red hair flew in every direction. It was ever bit as messy as his older brothers._

_James' mother, Melissa Potter, waddled around their large backyard. She was nearly seven months pregnant with her third child. James' father, Harold Potter, made sure his wife didn't do anything she wasn't supposed too._

"_Mummy!" James called. "I want to ride my broom!"_

_Melissa chuckled. "You know where it's at."_

"_But Mummy," complained James._

_Harold gave him a stern look. "James, you can get your broom yourself."_

"_I'll come with you!" offered Jacob._

_The two brothers set off to the shed in the backyard that held all their toys. James turned to his little brother. "Let's race!"_

"_Go!" shouted Jacob, taking off before James could comprehend what was going on._

"_Hey, you cheater!" James yelled, racing after him._

_James caught up with the laughing boy easily. "Jacob, that's cheating," James told his brother, who was wandering on the edge of the yard. "Jacob, what are you doing?"_

_Jacob continued wandered along the edge, which James knew he wasn't supposed to be doing. Shaking his head at the younger brother, James opened the door to the shed, throwing toys away from him so he could find his broomstick._

_A thin handle stuck out of a pile of old blocks. James thrust his hand into the pile and pulled out his toy broomstick. Smiling, the young boy walked back out of the shed._

"_Come on Jacob!" James called, beginning to run._

_James stopped, something wasn't right._

_Jacob wasn't there running with him. He turned back to the shed, where Jacob had been wandering. A large cloaked figure stood over the small boy. James saw Jacob reach up, trying to touch the person._

"_Jacob!" yelled James. "Don't touch it!"_

_The cloaked figure twisted to James upon hearing his voice. James couldn't make out the face underneath the cloak. But he knew that a slow grin was forming on the intruders face._

"_Get away from my brother," he said, advancing on the figure, pointing his broomstick at him._

_The figure laughed. "You aren't ever going to see your brother again."_

_Before James could even think of another word to say, his baby brother, Jacob, and the cloaked figure disappeared with a quick pop. He saw his parents rushing over to James._

"_Mummy, someone took Jacob!" James shouted._

_Melissa let out a terrible cry and slumped to the ground. Harold looked around furiously. "James, where did they go?"_

_He shook his head. "They went pop!"_

_Tears spilled out of Melissa's hazel eyes. "Mummy, is Jacob okay?"_

_A watery smile grazed his mother's face. "Jacob is going to be alright," she assured him, gathering James in a bone crushing hug._

James knew that was a lie. They had found his baby brother's body only two days later, floating in a nearby river. From that moment on, James knew that he would never let anyone experience the pain and loss he had felt that night, ever again. For ten years, James has lived with the guilt of Jacob's death. If he hadn't wanted to get his broomstick so badly, or at least made Jacob come with him into the shed, Jacob would be here with him right now, causing as much mayhem as he and Sirius now did.

The guilt still lingered with him.

"James, are you alright?" Jensen asked him, looking at him with concern in her oddly colored lime green eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said shortly.

He glanced to Lily again, this time he found her looking up at him. The trace of tears wanting to spill out of her eyes was evident. James vowed to himself that no one, no one he loved, would ever be hurt again by Voldemort as long as he lived. Looking at Lily one last time made his decision all the more clearer.

Voldemort is going down.

* * *

The air in Hogwarts was filled to the brim with excitement. The four tables had been charmed to allow their new students places to sit. Close to a hundred foreign students now sat tentatively on the wooden benches, glancing around the Great Hall, whispering amongst themselves.

Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly. Talking and whisperings ceased immediately. "It is my great pleasure to welcome the students of the schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to Hogwarts! I hope you all had a wonderful travel. Now, since we are finally altogether, I will explain the musical we shall be doing here at Hogwarts."

Scrapping of benches was heard so that everyone could face the Headmaster. "Good, it has been determined that we will be performing the musical _Hairspray_." The news was met with confused glances between friends and classmates. "Professor Burbage," Dumbledore said, gesturing to the pretty Muggle Studies teacher, "has informed me that this is a Muggle musical based on the hard times of the sixties. Professor Burbage will be in charge of the casting and everyone else who is going to participate in the production. I know I said before that Quidditch players from Hogwarts must compete in the musical, but I've rethought my proclamation and have now decided that if you would like to you may be in the musical, I am not forcing anyone to be in the musical though."

James stared, dumbfounded, at Dumbledore. "He must be joking," he groaned.

Lily would have smiled, the satisfaction of seeing James do something he didn't want made her happy, but she just couldn't be happy at the moment.

"Sadly, I am not joking Mr. Potter," chuckled Dumbledore, eyes twinkling. "The teachers and I discussed it and found that it would certainly be way too many students if we did that. So, with that in our minds, auditions will be held tomorrow evening after classes conclude. To anyone who wishes to audition, Professor Burbage has scripts with her. You may pick them up on your way out. I expect nothing but greatness from the production. And for Quidditch, Madam Hooch will be posting the schedules in every dormitory and on every bulletin board. Now, welcome and enjoy the feast new students!"

"I can't believe him," muttered James to his Marauders.

Sirius chortled. "Tough luck mate, maybe you shouldn't have told him about your bet with Evans."

James glared at his friend. Sirius continued laughing.

Remus shook his head at Sirius. "Prongs, it's not the end of the world. I've learned about _Hairspray_ in Muggle Studies. It's a really interesting musical about this girl that doesn't fit in with the status quo, per se, and she changes everyone's views on the way of life."

"Lovely Moony, just my kind of musical," James said sarcastically. "It's not like I can sing anyhow."

"Yeah you can!" Sirius said. "You're not half bad when you sing in the shower."

This received odd looks from the girls. Dinah asked, laughing, "You listen to James when he is in the shower?"

Laughter followed her question. "We always thought you were gay, mate," Kaelin added, patting Sirius' hand sympathetically.

"I am not gay!" shouted Sirius, slumping his shoulders.

"So Emer," said Camryn, "what part do you want to audition for?"

"Not sure," Lily said softly, her mind had stopped thinking about the wedding for the time being. "I've never heard of this musical before."

"Don't you have to try out for the lead?" voiced Jensen from over her mound of chicken legs.

"Oh yeah," she said. "I forgot about that completely."

"How about I go get the script and see who you can try out for?" suggested Dinah, already rising from the table.

Two minutes later she scampered down the aisle and plopped back down in her seat. She slammed a pile of parchment onto the table. Lily grabbed one, hoping it would take her mind off the events that kept tantalizing her.

"Hm, there are a ton of songs," said Jensen, flipping through a packet.

Lily nodded her agreement. She didn't know if she was up to do a musical at the moment. Singing about love and whatnot just didn't appeal to her. But she wouldn't back out of the deal, there was no way she would give James Potter that satisfaction.

**okay... sooo im really busy with school and volleyball. and depending on if people like this story or not im not going to continue to write it if no one likes it. i loove writing it. but i never have any time. so if you want to know whats going to be going on with their lives. tell me. thanks.**


	7. Too Many Tears

**wow. so its been forever! im soo sorry. =\ i havent been writing much lately but i really just got back into it. im hoping to do a couple more chapters of this tonight. so please reply -and be nice- i know i havent written anything in awhile. =] but if i get lots of love i will definitely have more drive to continue writing. thanks for being so patient!!! enjoy...**

**Chapter Seven: Too Many Tears**

"Would all auditionees please line up over there!" instructed Professor Burbage, her long brown hair flowing down her back, a pair of square spectacles swayed from around her neck.

Lily waited at the back of the forever long line with Dinah and Camryn. Kaelin and Jensen had decided they weren't cut out for the musical business and managed to squeeze into a seat in the overly crowded Albus Auditorium.

"I never knew we had an Auditorium," said Dinah, taking in the beauty of the cavernous hall.

"Who knew it was named after Professor Dumbledore," laughed Camryn.

Lily was oddly quiet. Dinah wondered if she had even spoken at all today. "Lily, quit fidgeting," she said, "you're making me nervous."

"Sorry," mumbled Lily, ceasing her fumblings with her robe.

Professor Burbage rapped lightly on the podium on the stage, she pointed her wand to her throat. When she spoke again, it was increasingly louder. "We have a great turn out today, and I thank you all for taking the time to audition. We want to make something the Wizarding World will be proud of. I'm going to send you to certain areas based on which character you are trying out for. We will start off with the Amber's. Everyone auditioning for Amber Von Tussle please make your way to the right chamber."

"Bye loves," Camryn said following the other Amber's to the right chamber.

"Good luck!" Dinah called after her.

"Who are you trying out for again?" Lily asked Dinah.

"Oh, I'm just going to be a dancer," she said. "I don't like acting all too much, but I do love to dance."

Lily shook her head at her.

"And you're auditioning for Penny Pingleton," Dinah told Lily, just incase she had forgotten.

"Yeah, I got it."

"I can't believe Sirius is here," laughed Dinah. "James must have made him come with him."

Lily nodded, not caring in the least. James and Sirius weren't her biggest problems as of late.

Professor Burbage continued, "Lovely, now everyone auditioning for Penny Pingleton please make your way to center stage."

"Center stage?" Lily gasped. "I thought we would be in a side chamber or something."

"Guess not!" Dinah said, giving Lily a push. "Come on, you'll be great. Don't even think of all the thousands of other people watching you."

"Thanks D," Lily said scowling.

"Break a leg!" shouted Dinah.

Lily trudged down to the center of the Auditorium. Literally, she felt the eyes of thousands staring at her retreating back. Nearly a dozen more girls were trying out for Penny. She had no confidence in herself whatsoever. She just wanted to get this over with. Even though Penny wasn't exactly the main part, she was still a lead. And Lily thought that qualified for James' little deal.

A squeak emitted from nearby. Professor Flitwick was placing the girl's in a line. "Line up and we will call you forward when we are ready. We are going to have you read one of her parts, and then sing some of the song "You Can't Stop the Beat"," he instructed.

Lily was last, yet again. She blamed it on her lousy attitude and nonexistent willpower to care that she was here. The first three girls were absolutely dreadful. Professor Burbage dismissed them with a flourish of her wand, looking mortified. The next two read lines extremely well, but found that they couldn't place a note if someone would have shoved music up their ass. Lily felt her confidence increasing greatly, right until the girl before her.

She hadn't caught her name, but it was definitely something French, which meant she must be from Beauxbatons. Lily suddenly felt compelled to do the best that she could. She needed a good distraction, and this was her free ticket. Mustering up all the strength she could, Lily stepped forward with a hop in her step.

"And you are?" Professor Burbage said tonelessly, not even glancing up at her.

"I'm Lily Evans."

"Oh Miss Evans," Professor Burbage said, sighing. "Will you please read the lines on page thirty seven, Professor Flitwick will be your Seaweed."

Lily nodded, going into instant Penny mode. "Seaweed? Shh, don't let her hear you!"

Professor Flitwick squeaked, "What happened to you?"

"She's punishing me for harboring a fugitive without her permission," Lily said, as if this sort of thing happened all the time. "What are you doing?"

"I'm here to rescue the fair maiden, baby."

"Oh Seaweed," breathed Lily softly, "you do care! I was afraid the colors of our skins would keep us apart."

"Thanks Miss Evans," Professor Burbage said no emotion to it. "Now please sing Penny's verse in "You Can't Stop the Beat"."

Lily nodded again. She straightened her back, taking a sweeping look at all the faces in the crowd. Every single one was faced towards her, rapt with attention. Shaking off the feel of everyone's eyes on her, Lily opened her mouth and softly sang the opening notes to Penny's verse. "You can't stop the river as it rushes to the sea." She let the feeling and meaning of the words take her over, and soon Lily was belting out the rest of the song. Lily finished her song, eyes blaring holes into the wood floor beneath her.

Silence followed her verse. She didn't dare look up to see the disappointed faces of the teachers, she wondered if everyone was silently laughing at her attempt at singing.

"Could you sing, "Good Morning Baltimore"?" asked Professor Burbage.

Lily looked baffled. "I never practiced that song."

"Someone get her a script," ordered Burbage.

A script was thrust into Lily's hands moments later. She glanced over the music quickly trying to figure out what it was supposed to sound like. She hummed the first couple bars to herself, then deciding it was now or never, she began to sing.

"Oh, oh, oh. Woke up today, feeling the way I always do. Oh, oh, oh. Hungry for something I can't eat, when I hear that beat. The rhythm of town keeps pulling me down. It's like a message from high above. Oh, oh, oh. Pulling me out to the smiles and streets that I love." Lily glanced to Burbage. She made no motion in telling her to stop. She simply nodded her head as if saying, continue please.

Lily swallowed, her mouth felt dry. "Good morning Baltimore! Every day's like an open door. Every night is a fantasy. Every sounds like a symphony."

She sang every last note on that piece of parchment. When she had finished, Burbage nodded and said, "Thank you Lily."

Lily nodded dumbly. She needed to get away from this audition as quick as she could. She ran right passed Dinah, who tried to stop her. Pushing Dinah away and walking into the deserted corridor brought relief to Lily's heart, which was beating rather irregularly. Having no idea where to go or what to do, Lily let her feet lead the way.

Her feet led her all the way to the seventh floor corridor, where a door appeared out of thin air. She stepped in, instantly relishing the comfort it brought her. She inhaled deeply, ice and cold air filled her nostrils. The glistening ice rink winked back at her, pleading to be ridden on.

A pair of ice skates lay on a bench to her right. Quickly, Lily laced up the skates loving the way they molded perfectly to her feet. Pushing herself off the bench and walking on the ice for the first time gave her the biggest relief she had had in a few days.

Warm up laps and a couple easy jumps followed her first walk onto the ice. She smiled to herself, whistling the tune to one of her old routines.

A wave of nausea hit her. Tears threatened to fall out of her emerald eyes. She choked back a sob. Her back hit the nearest wall and slid down. She sat upon the cold ice, not caring in the least that her robes were probably soaking wet now.

Memories of the past flooded her thoughts. Ice skating had been her mother's thing, that's why Lily had started it in the first place. Never knowing her mother truly, Lily believed she was connected in some way to her mother through skating. Thinking of her mother made her think of skating, and of all the competitions she had entered in her childhood. The competitions were always such a fun family activity for the Evans'. Her dad would take off work for a whole week and Petunia and even the evil step-mum would join them on their outing to Lily's destination for the competition.

Her father.

A trail of water trickled down her pale cheek. She would never hear her father yell her name after successfully finishing a program without one fall.

Never again would Steve and Lily stay up all night going over strategy for her next competition.

Never again would Lily wake up in the summer mornings to find her dad making her favorite, blueberry pancakes.

Never again would they laugh at how outrageous their neighbors acted.

"Daddy," Lily whispered, drawing her knees up to her chest, burying her head in them. "It's all my fault. I'm so sorry Daddy. If I would have been more attentive, maybe I would have figured out that they were Death Eaters. I could have stopped it. I should have stopped it."

"There's nothing you could have done," a voice said from across the ice.

Lily whipped her head up, tears blurred her vision. "What do you want?" She tried to wipe away the tears that still lingered on her face. "Who are you?" she asked the intruder. "And how the hell did you get in here?"

She heard a chuckle. "You ask too many questions Evans."

"Potter?" Lily asked, outraged. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," he said softly, bending down to her level.

Lily squirmed out from underneath his penetrating gaze. "Why are you here?" she asked again, not satisfied with his first answer.

"After the auditions ended, Dinah came running up to us saying you ran out after your audition," James said, now taking a seat on the ice.

"And that explains why your here," Lily said, "how?"

James rolled his eyes. "She made Sirius and I help her look for you. Naturally I thought you would be up here. But an ice rink, Merlin Lily, are you trying to freeze yourself to death?"

"I wouldn't mind," she muttered, another sob gurgled from her mouth.

"I heard what you said," he said.

She waited for a laugh. It never came. "Why aren't you laughing?"

He looked irate. "Why would I laugh at something like that?"

She shrugged, she didn't have any answers for anything at the moment. All she knew was that it was her fault that her dad would no longer tell her he loved her anymore.

James stayed silent for a minute. "It's not your fault."

"How do you know?" she spat, turning away from him.

He sighed, looking like he was having a battle within himself. "Lily, I have to tell you something." She didn't say anything so he took that as a gesture to continue. "When I was six, my brother and I were playing in our yard."

"You have a brother?" asked Lily, slightly surprised.

"Will you let me finish? Anyway, my brother, Jacob, and I were playing around in our backyard, just like any other night. Well, I wanted to get my broomstick out of the shed, so Jacob followed me back there. He stayed outside while I retrieved it. He had become fascinated by something along the hedges. I walked back out to see a cloaked figure standing over my baby brother. I was too young to think anything of it, but in a second, they had Apparated. Two days later, they found his body in a nearby river. He was only four."

Lily gasped, fresh tears in her eyes.

"I blamed myself for it, if I hadn't gone into the shed I would have seen what Jacob was looking at. If I hadn't even wanted the bloody broomstick in the first place, Jacob would still be here with us. Probably terrorizing Julie as we speak. I never forgave myself for what happened. My mother was so depressed, which didn't help with her pregnancy. They told me it wasn't my fault. I never listened. Jacob isn't here today because of my stupidity."

Somehow, in the middle of his heartfelt story, Lily had grabbed his hand, wanting to show him she was sorry. She wondered if she was losing her own mind, but kept her hand firmly wrapped in his warm one.

James glanced down to the laced hands and continued to talk. "I may never have forgiven myself for what happened, but I didn't let it eat me away. Lily, you are too strong. I know that you will get passed this eventually, not anytime soon, believe me it takes awhile. The guilt will carry with you forever, mine still does. Just because they are gone, doesn't mean they are truly gone. They will leave your heart only when you let them."

Lily sat there, full out crying now. She didn't know if it was because of the whole Jacob story or if in some way, she knew James was exactly right.

"Does the pain ever go away?" she asked him, her voice small.

He nodded, pieces of midnight black hair falling into his eyes. "It will take some time. But with some good pranks and the musical coming up, I think you will be able to keep your mind off it."

"I blew my audition," said Lily, disgusted with herself.

"Are you kidding me?" James asked. "You blew everyone away. I never knew you could sing so well. After you ran out, everyone clapped for about five minutes."

Lily looked at him, trying to find some trace of a joke. "Serious?"

"Serious, and speaking of Sirius, I remember him standing up yelling 'Lily Evans, she's my friends best friend!' Or something along the lines of that, maybe something a little stupider sounding though."

A faint smile crossed Lily's face.

"See, I've already got a smile from you!" he said triumphantly.

She shivered. The wet ice had finally become an issue.

"Honestly," James said, hoisting her up, "sitting on ice is not the best solution there is."

"Thanks," Lily said, pulling her skates off.

"For what?" he asked curiously, swinging on the side of the wall.

"For making me feel better."

"Lily! There you are! We've been looking all over for you!" Dinah shouted, running towards the redhead at full speed.

"Prongs," Sirius said smiling, "we figured you would find her."

Lily rolled her eyes. "What does that mean?"

Dinah cut him off. "Absolutely nothing. Are you okay? You really sprinted out of there after your audition."

"I'm okay now," Lily said, her eyes falling on James.

"Good," Dinah said. "And by the way, you killed that audition."

"I thought I did terrible," Lily admitted, falling in step beside Dinah.

They were heading back to Gryffindor Common Room. "Terrible?" questioned Sirius. "Even I thought you did okay."

Dinah glared at him.

"Okay, I thought you were good."

She continued to glare at him.

"Okay, you were amazing?" he wondered, backing away from Dinah.

"Anyway, I would be really surprised if you didn't get the part," Dinah said.

"When do we find out the parts?" Lily asked.

"They are posting them tomorrow, outside of the Auditorium."

"Who knew we had an Auditorium?" asked Sirius, winking at two passing girls.

"Hey James," one of them giggled.

He nodded, quickly turning back to Sirius. "It's new. They just made it the passed year."

The three stopped and looked at James.

"What?" he asked innocently, shrugging his shoulders.

"Anyway," Dinah said again, "they are going up at noon."

"What part did you try out for Sirius?" Lily asked him.

He looked baffled.

"What?" she asked.

He stuttered, "Y-you just called me Sirius."

"That is your name, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but you've never called me that before."

Lily shrugged nonchalantly. "Is it going to kill you if I do now?"

"What made you have a change of heart?"

Her green eyes caught the hazel ones. "Nothing."

James looked away, a faint smile on his face.

She sighed, "I just figured, since you and _James_ saved us and all, that we could try and be nicer to each other. I'll start by calling you by your first names now."

Dinah smiled at Lily. "I've been trying to get you to do that for years! What made you change your mind?"

"Nothing," Lily said again. "Can you just deal with it? I thought you wanted me to be friends with them."

"This is going to be weird," Sirius muttered.

"How?"

"I'm going to miss those yelling matches you always had with Prongs."

James rolled his eyes. "I won't."

"Those were the highlight of my day!" Sirius exclaimed.

"You're helpless mate," James said, pounding his friend on the back. "Maybe you should find a girl to get your mind off of me and Lily fighting."

Sirius scrunched his face together. "Nah, I don't need a woman to get my mind off things."

James chuckled.

The four crawled through the Portrait Hole after telling the Fat Lady the password, _Merlin_. They spotted Kaelin, Jensen, and Peter crowded around one of the tables. Seeing Peter startled Lily a bit, she had practically never seen him since school started. He looked about the same he usual did, maybe a little paler and a bit fatter, but nothing too different.

"Where's Moony?" asked Sirius, sitting in Kaelin's lap.

"No idea."

"Where's Cam?" asked Jensen, looking at the four newcomers.

A knowing smile appeared on the friends faces. "I don't get it," Peter mused.

Sirius sighed. "Well Wormtail, you haven't been around enough to get it. We suspect Moony and Lawler are together, they just don't want to tell us yet."

"Oh."

"So, how did the auditions go?" Kaelin asked excitedly, wrapping her arms around Sirius.

Sirius squirmed. "Ev- I mean Lily rocked it."

"That's what they keep saying, but I think I did terrible," Lily muttered.

"Well, who did you all try out for?" Jensen wondered.

"Penny," she said.

"I just tried out for dancing," Dinah said, "but they made me sing. I don't have any idea why. It's not like you're going to hear me in the back round or anything."

"Brad, he's Link's best friend," Sirius said.

"And let me guess," Kaelin laughed, "James tried out for Link."

"Of course I did!"

"You two can't even be in a musical without playing each others best friends," Dinah said.

The pair shrugged. "I'm going up to the dormitory," Lily announced. "I'm going to start some homework."

"Homework, Lily? Come on, it's Saturday, leave it for tomorrow."

"Nah, I just want some peace and quiet right now."

"And you get that doing homework?" Sirius asked, bewildered.

Lily nodded. "I'm okay, really. I just need some time to myself."

Her friends found that a good enough answer, seeing as they let her climb up to the dormitory and settle herself down at her desk, intending to start on the mother load of Transfiguration essays she had to write.

A rap at the window delayed her intentions. Her copper owl, Turner, rapped the window again, almost impatiently. Lily hesitantly opened the window for her owl. She noticed the bundle around his legged bulged a little more than usual.

Turner nipped at her hand affectionately. Lily shooed him away. He hadn't been bringing her any good news lately, so why be nice to him. It was a project untying the letters as Turner kept trying to bite a part out of her hand. Maybe she shouldn't have been so mean to him.

"I'm sorry Turner," she told the owl, "but would you just stay still for a moment."

He made no intention of being any help to her. So she wrestled the bundle off his leg for about two minutes.

Lily let out a frustrated sigh. Turner flew right back out the window without so much as a good bye to his owner. She tore the bundle open with shaky hands. The first one was in a print she knew well.

_Lily,_

_Darling, you did very good back there. I'm very proud of you for putting up such a good fight. Everyone got out okay. I've never had to Obliviate so many people's memories before. I'm sad to say that your father didn't make it out. He was the first and only casualty. Don't try and beat yourself up over it. You are allowed to be sad, but you couldn't have stopped it no more than I could have. You were very brave, and I'm so proud of you._

_You are going to be getting a letter from Petunia, I suspect. I advise you to not listen to any of it. She was angry with the outcome and took it out on you. Don't take her letter to heart._

_The funeral is set for this Wednesday. I hope you can make it._

_Once again, I am very proud of you. And I love you, Lil. You will be able to get passed this. I know you can, you are tough._

_Love,_

_Grandma Mae_

The tears had started again. Everything seemed to remind her of her father. This letter didn't help at all, telling her it wasn't her fault, when she was the reason that the stupid Death Eaters had came to the wedding in the first place. Chucking the letter halfway across the room left her feeling a little better than before.

God. Why did this have to happen to her?

She lost her mother at such a young age. No one, besides Grandma Mae and her father, ever showed any interest in liking her from her family. She was an outcast in her family, and now she had nothing to go back to.

Lily picked up the next letter, groaning immediately.

_Freak,_

_Thanks to you and your freakish people, Dad is no longer among the living. I never want to see you again. If you try and come to the funeral I will make you wish you never had. I can't believe Dad is dead because of you. You should be ashamed of yourself. I will be happy to never have to hear or see you again._

_Petunia_

Frustration mounted in her to the point of bursting. Every time she felt herself being a little bit happier about that night, things like this were thrown at her. Lily knew she should take Petunia's letter seriously, but how could she not? It was truly her fault that their father was no longer alive.

Angrily ripping the note into shreds, Lily tossed them up in the air. She grabbed the last letter, wondering if anything else could make her night any worse than it already was.

I wArnEd yoU

Lily screamed, throwing the note away from her, and proceeded to run down to the common room and straight through the portrait hole.

"Was that Lily?" Kaelin asked, jumping out of her seat ready to go chase after her friend.

James grabbed Kaelin's arm. "Let her go, she needs time to herself."

Kaelin glanced to James wondering when he had become Lily's personal guide.

"Whatever," she mumbled, falling back into her seat, only to watch her friend stomp angrily out of the Common Room.

Lily didn't know where she was going, but all she knew is that nothing could possibly make her feel any worse than she did at this moment. Even if Snape came up to her and hexed her, Lily doubted she wouldn't mind.

For the second time that day, Lily let her feet lead her. She hurried passed friends and teachers, not stopping to say hello or answer why she was running away so fast. Her head checked behind her to make sure none of her friends had followed, of course she would chose that time to look around and smack right into something, leaving her to fall to the ground with a loud thump.

"Ow," Lily muttered weakly, holding her leg. The fall had brought back some pain from the first night of Hogwarts.

"Oh, sorry Lily!" exclaimed the thing she had ran into.

She thought she had run into a wall, guess not. "Oh, no Timmy, it's okay. I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Yeah, but I'm still sorry," he said, smiling. Extending a hand out to the fallen girl, he hoisted her up and helped her to steady herself.

"Thanks."

"You okay?" he asked, holding her at arms length, his light blue eyes searching her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little sore still I guess," she said offhandedly.

"That's good," he said. "But are you really okay? You don't look to good."

A huge sigh left her body. She figured she mustn't look all too presentable either. Redness now adorned her once lively green eyes, and water tracks traced her cheeks.

"I guess not," she finally said after a moment's silence.

"Want to talk about it?" asked Timmy, shaking his head of sandy blond hair so it would get out of his eyes.

"How much time do you have?" she wondered, glancing at his face, noticing for the first time the splash of light brown freckles sprinkled over his nose.

Timmy smiled, one of those genuine smiles. "All the time in the world."


End file.
